~* Looking In *~
Part Three - Simple No Longer
~* All this time that I felt like this won't end
Was for you
And I taste what I could never have
It's from you
All those times that I tried
My intentions
Full of pride
And I waste more time than anyone *~
Draco awoke to the sound of banging and running feet. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at Willow, who was sleeping peacefully, one hand on his chest. He didn't want to wake her. They had gotten to sleep pretty late as it was, and they were up until long after sunrise talking. If the clock told him the truth, they had only been asleep about an hour.
And if *he* was exhausted, he couldn't even imagine how she was feeling.
A hand sliding down his arm caught his attention and he looked down to see Willow smiling up at him.
"Morning." She said lazily.
"Morning. I didn't want to wake you, but there's a bit of a commotion outside, and I thought something was wrong."
The last reaction he was expecting was the one he received. Willow started giggling madly.
"What? Is there something on my face?" He asked, smiling at her.
She giggled. "No, it's just - it's *always* this crazy in the morning. There's one bathroom in this house."
Draco still looked confused.
Willow sat up, still giggling, and put a hand on his cheek. "One bathroom, sixteen girls, and now four guys."
"Ah. So it's a fight for the shower, is it?"
"Yeah. Buffy and I always end up going last. Somehow, Dawn has learned to get up before everyone else and get in first, followed shortly by Kennedy. They've gotten pretty close."
"So, how long have you all been here together?"
Willow looked up and counted in her head. "Six months. The SIT's - "
"The who?"
"Slayers in training."
"Oh." This was still all *very* new to him. Head Boy of his house, you would think he could remember the names of twelve teenage girls.
Apparently not.
"Yeah, so they've come slowly but surely, and we've lost some along the way. Actually, at one point, there were seventeen trainees, plus ten other people. It got pretty crazy around here for a while, but it's died down. I still haven't been able to sleep very well though."
"You didn't seem like you wanted to sleep last night." Draco said suggestively, kissing her neck.
Willow blushed slightly. "Yeah, well, somebody was keeping me awake." She leaned a little closer to him.
"And you're complaining?" A little closer.
"No." She sealed his mouth over his.
The two of them sat there, necking shamelessly like two teenagers in the Astronomy Tower, when a knock on their door yanked them out of their pleasure.
Willow groaned and Draco had to stifle a laugh at the look on her face. Willow glared at him. "What do you want?"
"It's me, Will." Dawn said through the door. "Look, there are two people downstairs claiming they know Draco. I was hoping he could come down. Is he awake?"
Willow looked at Draco and smiled. "Yeah, he's awake. I'll send him down in a minute."
"Got it."
Willow heard her feet move away from the door and sighed. She looked over at Draco. "As much as I'd love to stay here with you all day, I think you have to go see who that is. We've been a little cautious around here lately. Sorry if it all seems a bit overwhelming."
"You've obviously never been at Hogwarts after Voldemort attacked."
Willow shook her head and went over to her dresser, pulling out clothes. She had the sheet wrapped around her, and moved around a bit uncomfortably trying to change. Draco watched her, amused. "What's it like there? Hogwarts? I mean, I schooled myself in magic, at least for the most part. It has to be amazing there."
"Oh, it's not that amazing." Willow threw him a look over a shoulder as if to say 'well, maybe not to you.' Draco arched an eyebrow and laughed. "Then again, I guess I did grow up in the wizarding world. Nothing about it amazes me anymore."
Willow finished changing and threw the sheet back onto the bed, sighing. "I'm going to go see if Buffy's awake, okay?" She gave him a quick kiss.
"Alright." He said against her lips.
She pulled away, and went to open the door, before turning back. "Are we going to tell anyone? About us I mean?"
Draco sighed. "I was never one for keeping secrets - you can ask Hermione all about that." Hermione insisted on keeping their relationship from Harry and Ron for weeks before he got so frustrated that he told them himself. "But, if you want to -"
"No!" She said quickly, and then smiled awkwardly at the look on his face. "I mean, no, I - I don't want to. Okay?"
Draco smiled slyly. "Of course."
Willow shook her head and walked out, closing the door behind her. She let out a little yelp of surprise when she saw Buffy standing there.
"Buffy! Goddess, don't do that!"
Buffy grinned. "Sorry. Angel's stealth must be rubbing off on me. And what, praytell, were we doing with a certain wizard last night?" She winked playfully.
Willow grinned. "Oh, but whatever do you mean?"
"Someone got smoochies. Tell me you got smoochies."
"I got smoochies." She arched her eyebrows. "And a little more."
Buffy squealed with delight. "You have to tell me *all* about it later. Right now, I have to go downstairs and see what the calvary is raving about. Draco's coming down too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good. They'd better be who they say they are, because I'm in no mood to deal with imposters." Buffy stopped for a second. "That would sound more threatening if I wasn't limping wouldn't it?"
"Sadly yes."
"Eh - I'll get over it." The two of them walked down the stairs, Buffy a bit slowly, to her resentment, and walked into the livingroom. There were two people sitting on the couch side by side. The man was tall with unkempt black hair and amazing green eyes. The woman sitting next to him was about six inches shorter, wavy brown hair, and brown eyes. Willow could only gather that they were married from the gold band on both of their left hands.
The woman looked up when Willow entered the room. Buffy went into the kitchen to get a much needed cup of coffee. "You must be Willow. I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter. We're friends of Draco's."
"I figured as much. Draco will be down in a second. I think he's changing."
"Or possibly attempting to get into the bath - "Buffy stopped when she saw Hermione. "room." She shook her head a few times. "I'm sorry - you - do I know you from somewhere?"
Hermione looked at Buffy intently, and shook her head. Then it finally hit her. "Yes! Um - Watcher's Council. Last year. A Quentin Travers wanted me to start training, but I declined. I'm a bit satisfied with my present job. What were you doing there?"
"Attempting to convince a very stubborn Travers that the First Evil was coming after me, but I'm sure you know that story. After all, what do I know? I've only been the slayer for the past eight years and sure, I've died a few times, but it wasn't *my* fault, and I'm going to stop while I'm ahead."
Harry just looked at her. "You died?"
"Twice."
Harry looked up into the doorway, where Malfoy was leaning against the doorframe. He smiled at Willow who smiled back. "Hello Potter."
"Malfoy." Was all Harry said.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh honestly, you two are worse then five year olds." She went over to Draco and gave him a friendly hug. "Hello Draco."
"Hi 'Mione." He whispered near her ear. "So, how was the honeymoon?" Hermione hit him playfully on the arm and just arched an eyebrow suggestively.
"So, where's Weasly?" Draco asked as Hermione went to sit back down next to Harry.
"On his way. He had to stop in and talk to Sirius. Said something unexpected happened in Florence that had to be taken care of, though I have no idea what it could have been."
"Something unexpected *always* happens." Hermione said sighing.
"You don't have to remind me." Draco said.
"Look, I don't mean to interrupt," Buffy said, seeing Faith and Xander come down the stairs out of the corner of her eye. "Obviously you guys have some catching up to do, but - are you planning on staying overnight?"
"Just for a few days." Harry said. "Ron will probably be staying as well when he gets here." Buffy groaned. "Why? Is there a problem?"
"Let me put it this way." Faith said, coming into the room. "Four bedrooms, one bathroom, seventeen girls, six guys. That answer your question?"
Hermione grimaced, as if understanding completely. "That does present a problem."
"Well, we're just going to have to move things around. If Angel and I sleep in my bed - "
Xander coughed, though it sounded a lot like "gypsy curse". Buffy glared. "If Angel and I take the bed, there's room for about four more people on the floor."
"What about Willow's room? Ow!" Faith and Buffy elbowed him. That was exactly what they were trying to avoid. Buffy explained to Faith what was going on between Willow and Draco, and she was more then happy to attempt to keep them alone in a room together.
Damn Xander and his big mouth.
"I have to agree with Xander." Giles said, crossing his arms. "Buffy, you need your rest. You don't need anyone else in your room. I've already offered to take a few of the girls off of Xander and Dawn's hands. If they don't mind the floor, Harry, Hermione, and Ron could easily fit in Willow's room."
At this point, Willow and Draco were eyeing each other. Faith was glaring at Xander as if to say 'don't sleep tonight.' Xander recoiled.
Willow sighed. "Sure, whatever."
"Will, are you sure?" Buffy asked.
"It's fine. I'm going to the store; we're running out of food. Anyone who wants to come is welcome to. Otherwise, I'll see everyone in about an hour."
Willow grabbed her coat from next to the door and walked out. Draco was about to follow, but Hermione stopped him. "Let someone else go. I want to talk to you."
Draco gave her an exasperated look. "Hermione - "
"Don't argue with me, Draco." She gave Harry a quick kiss, and opened the door. "Let's take a walk, shall we?"
Draco nodded, and walked out after her. Faith grabbed Xander's arm. "C'mon Xand. We're taking walk."
"But I don't want to take a walk." Xander protested.
Faith pushed him out the door. "Tough. I'll explain on the way."
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hermione and Draco walked in silence for a few blocks. Hermione turned to him. "So, you want to tell me what's going on between you and Willow?"
"What makes you think there's something going on?" Draco said, looking down.
"Oh, come off it, Draco. I know you better then most people give me credit. I saw the way you were looking at her, and I know what that look means because I've seen it before. So don't think you're fooling me, because you're not."
Draco sighed. "She understands me, Hermione. Better then anyone ever has. She knows how I feel because she's been there. She knows what it's like to be acting on pure, proud instinct, to try and have something you know you can never have, because you're not supposed to. She knows me in a way that nobody else ever has. Or ever will."
Hermione nodded. "So, let me guess. There was an immediate attraction, followed by a short explanation from someone else, probably Mr. Giles, about both of your pasts. You were put in the same room, alone I might add, so that attraction was just ten times stronger, you probably had sex, had some telling revelation about each other, and then stayed up until dawn talking." She looked up at him. "How am I doing so far?"
Draco blinked. "You're better at this then Trelawney ever gave you credit for, did you know that?"
Hermione slipped her arm through his, smiling. "I try."
~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Will! Wait up!"
Willow turned around when she saw Faith and Xander running to catch up with her. She smiled. "So, you decided to join the food brigade?"
"Food is good. And I always was part of the snack brigade back in high school, so I figured, why stop now." Xander said innocently.
"You wanted to know about Draco and me, so you followed me while I was alone."
"That too." Xander said shrugging.
"Look, I got some of the story from B. I just want to know the rest. From you."
"And me, being your best friend and all, would like to know more about the guy you've fallen for after twenty-four hours."
"It's not that simple." Willow said. "And 'fallen for' is saying it likely. It's more then that. It's a connection I've never had with anyone. Not Oz, not Tara. I feel so...complete when I'm with him. I can't explain it. He knows what I've been through because he's been there, and I know that if I tell him about my past, he won't judge me. He knows what it's like to end up in a really dark place, and to be pulled back again, and all the steps in between. He knows what it's like to feel like the world is going to end, but that aching sadness is going to go on forever. He's tasted darkness, just like I have. And he knows how hard it is to return to any sense of normalcy."
"So, I'm guessing you two know everything about each other then?" Faith said.
Willow was confused. "I don't know what you mean."
"Well, there was an instant attraction, followed by a quick explanation from Giles. The two of you were in your room alone together, so you probably did the naughty, and then stayed up all night talking." She grinned at Willow and Xander's shocked faces. "Am I right?"
Willow just stared at her. "That's scary. Did anyone ever tell you that you're scary?"
"You mean besides Xander?"
"Hey!"
Willow laughed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Buffy was sitting in the livingroom with Harry. Angel was downstairs with Giles training with Dawn and the SIT's and no one else had returned from their walks yet.
"So, what's up with you and Draco?" Buffy asked, trying to relieve the silence. "You two don't seem to like each other very much.
Harry snorted. "That's an understatement. This is civil compared to how we used to be."
"You two must have really hated each other."
"Let's just put it this way - we were in rival houses in school - "
"Houses?"
"Oh, right - When you first get to Hogwarts, you're sorted into a house. There are four of them. Me, Hermione, and Ron were in Gryffindor, and Malfoy was in Slytherin."
"Oh. But Hermione seems to get along with him well enough."
"Hermione and Draco dated for a little over a year. She broke up with him, he joined his father on the enemy side, but that was the least of our problems, because the world was pretty much going to hell."
"That sounds vaguely familiar." Buffy said, leaning back into the couch cushion.
"Does it?"
"Sunnydale is on the Hellmouth, so we're prone to problems of the apocalyptic kind. That and the whole breaking up with boyfriend and him joining the enemy while the world goes to hell strikes a little close to home."
"What do you mean?"
Buffy looked at the clock. "How much time do you have?"
"Why?"
"Because if I tell you my story, then you have to tell me yours, and we are so going to be here a while."
Harry nodded. "I have time."
Part Three - Simple No Longer
~* All this time that I felt like this won't end
Was for you
And I taste what I could never have
It's from you
All those times that I tried
My intentions
Full of pride
And I waste more time than anyone *~
Draco awoke to the sound of banging and running feet. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at Willow, who was sleeping peacefully, one hand on his chest. He didn't want to wake her. They had gotten to sleep pretty late as it was, and they were up until long after sunrise talking. If the clock told him the truth, they had only been asleep about an hour.
And if *he* was exhausted, he couldn't even imagine how she was feeling.
A hand sliding down his arm caught his attention and he looked down to see Willow smiling up at him.
"Morning." She said lazily.
"Morning. I didn't want to wake you, but there's a bit of a commotion outside, and I thought something was wrong."
The last reaction he was expecting was the one he received. Willow started giggling madly.
"What? Is there something on my face?" He asked, smiling at her.
She giggled. "No, it's just - it's *always* this crazy in the morning. There's one bathroom in this house."
Draco still looked confused.
Willow sat up, still giggling, and put a hand on his cheek. "One bathroom, sixteen girls, and now four guys."
"Ah. So it's a fight for the shower, is it?"
"Yeah. Buffy and I always end up going last. Somehow, Dawn has learned to get up before everyone else and get in first, followed shortly by Kennedy. They've gotten pretty close."
"So, how long have you all been here together?"
Willow looked up and counted in her head. "Six months. The SIT's - "
"The who?"
"Slayers in training."
"Oh." This was still all *very* new to him. Head Boy of his house, you would think he could remember the names of twelve teenage girls.
Apparently not.
"Yeah, so they've come slowly but surely, and we've lost some along the way. Actually, at one point, there were seventeen trainees, plus ten other people. It got pretty crazy around here for a while, but it's died down. I still haven't been able to sleep very well though."
"You didn't seem like you wanted to sleep last night." Draco said suggestively, kissing her neck.
Willow blushed slightly. "Yeah, well, somebody was keeping me awake." She leaned a little closer to him.
"And you're complaining?" A little closer.
"No." She sealed his mouth over his.
The two of them sat there, necking shamelessly like two teenagers in the Astronomy Tower, when a knock on their door yanked them out of their pleasure.
Willow groaned and Draco had to stifle a laugh at the look on her face. Willow glared at him. "What do you want?"
"It's me, Will." Dawn said through the door. "Look, there are two people downstairs claiming they know Draco. I was hoping he could come down. Is he awake?"
Willow looked at Draco and smiled. "Yeah, he's awake. I'll send him down in a minute."
"Got it."
Willow heard her feet move away from the door and sighed. She looked over at Draco. "As much as I'd love to stay here with you all day, I think you have to go see who that is. We've been a little cautious around here lately. Sorry if it all seems a bit overwhelming."
"You've obviously never been at Hogwarts after Voldemort attacked."
Willow shook her head and went over to her dresser, pulling out clothes. She had the sheet wrapped around her, and moved around a bit uncomfortably trying to change. Draco watched her, amused. "What's it like there? Hogwarts? I mean, I schooled myself in magic, at least for the most part. It has to be amazing there."
"Oh, it's not that amazing." Willow threw him a look over a shoulder as if to say 'well, maybe not to you.' Draco arched an eyebrow and laughed. "Then again, I guess I did grow up in the wizarding world. Nothing about it amazes me anymore."
Willow finished changing and threw the sheet back onto the bed, sighing. "I'm going to go see if Buffy's awake, okay?" She gave him a quick kiss.
"Alright." He said against her lips.
She pulled away, and went to open the door, before turning back. "Are we going to tell anyone? About us I mean?"
Draco sighed. "I was never one for keeping secrets - you can ask Hermione all about that." Hermione insisted on keeping their relationship from Harry and Ron for weeks before he got so frustrated that he told them himself. "But, if you want to -"
"No!" She said quickly, and then smiled awkwardly at the look on his face. "I mean, no, I - I don't want to. Okay?"
Draco smiled slyly. "Of course."
Willow shook her head and walked out, closing the door behind her. She let out a little yelp of surprise when she saw Buffy standing there.
"Buffy! Goddess, don't do that!"
Buffy grinned. "Sorry. Angel's stealth must be rubbing off on me. And what, praytell, were we doing with a certain wizard last night?" She winked playfully.
Willow grinned. "Oh, but whatever do you mean?"
"Someone got smoochies. Tell me you got smoochies."
"I got smoochies." She arched her eyebrows. "And a little more."
Buffy squealed with delight. "You have to tell me *all* about it later. Right now, I have to go downstairs and see what the calvary is raving about. Draco's coming down too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good. They'd better be who they say they are, because I'm in no mood to deal with imposters." Buffy stopped for a second. "That would sound more threatening if I wasn't limping wouldn't it?"
"Sadly yes."
"Eh - I'll get over it." The two of them walked down the stairs, Buffy a bit slowly, to her resentment, and walked into the livingroom. There were two people sitting on the couch side by side. The man was tall with unkempt black hair and amazing green eyes. The woman sitting next to him was about six inches shorter, wavy brown hair, and brown eyes. Willow could only gather that they were married from the gold band on both of their left hands.
The woman looked up when Willow entered the room. Buffy went into the kitchen to get a much needed cup of coffee. "You must be Willow. I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter. We're friends of Draco's."
"I figured as much. Draco will be down in a second. I think he's changing."
"Or possibly attempting to get into the bath - "Buffy stopped when she saw Hermione. "room." She shook her head a few times. "I'm sorry - you - do I know you from somewhere?"
Hermione looked at Buffy intently, and shook her head. Then it finally hit her. "Yes! Um - Watcher's Council. Last year. A Quentin Travers wanted me to start training, but I declined. I'm a bit satisfied with my present job. What were you doing there?"
"Attempting to convince a very stubborn Travers that the First Evil was coming after me, but I'm sure you know that story. After all, what do I know? I've only been the slayer for the past eight years and sure, I've died a few times, but it wasn't *my* fault, and I'm going to stop while I'm ahead."
Harry just looked at her. "You died?"
"Twice."
Harry looked up into the doorway, where Malfoy was leaning against the doorframe. He smiled at Willow who smiled back. "Hello Potter."
"Malfoy." Was all Harry said.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh honestly, you two are worse then five year olds." She went over to Draco and gave him a friendly hug. "Hello Draco."
"Hi 'Mione." He whispered near her ear. "So, how was the honeymoon?" Hermione hit him playfully on the arm and just arched an eyebrow suggestively.
"So, where's Weasly?" Draco asked as Hermione went to sit back down next to Harry.
"On his way. He had to stop in and talk to Sirius. Said something unexpected happened in Florence that had to be taken care of, though I have no idea what it could have been."
"Something unexpected *always* happens." Hermione said sighing.
"You don't have to remind me." Draco said.
"Look, I don't mean to interrupt," Buffy said, seeing Faith and Xander come down the stairs out of the corner of her eye. "Obviously you guys have some catching up to do, but - are you planning on staying overnight?"
"Just for a few days." Harry said. "Ron will probably be staying as well when he gets here." Buffy groaned. "Why? Is there a problem?"
"Let me put it this way." Faith said, coming into the room. "Four bedrooms, one bathroom, seventeen girls, six guys. That answer your question?"
Hermione grimaced, as if understanding completely. "That does present a problem."
"Well, we're just going to have to move things around. If Angel and I sleep in my bed - "
Xander coughed, though it sounded a lot like "gypsy curse". Buffy glared. "If Angel and I take the bed, there's room for about four more people on the floor."
"What about Willow's room? Ow!" Faith and Buffy elbowed him. That was exactly what they were trying to avoid. Buffy explained to Faith what was going on between Willow and Draco, and she was more then happy to attempt to keep them alone in a room together.
Damn Xander and his big mouth.
"I have to agree with Xander." Giles said, crossing his arms. "Buffy, you need your rest. You don't need anyone else in your room. I've already offered to take a few of the girls off of Xander and Dawn's hands. If they don't mind the floor, Harry, Hermione, and Ron could easily fit in Willow's room."
At this point, Willow and Draco were eyeing each other. Faith was glaring at Xander as if to say 'don't sleep tonight.' Xander recoiled.
Willow sighed. "Sure, whatever."
"Will, are you sure?" Buffy asked.
"It's fine. I'm going to the store; we're running out of food. Anyone who wants to come is welcome to. Otherwise, I'll see everyone in about an hour."
Willow grabbed her coat from next to the door and walked out. Draco was about to follow, but Hermione stopped him. "Let someone else go. I want to talk to you."
Draco gave her an exasperated look. "Hermione - "
"Don't argue with me, Draco." She gave Harry a quick kiss, and opened the door. "Let's take a walk, shall we?"
Draco nodded, and walked out after her. Faith grabbed Xander's arm. "C'mon Xand. We're taking walk."
"But I don't want to take a walk." Xander protested.
Faith pushed him out the door. "Tough. I'll explain on the way."
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hermione and Draco walked in silence for a few blocks. Hermione turned to him. "So, you want to tell me what's going on between you and Willow?"
"What makes you think there's something going on?" Draco said, looking down.
"Oh, come off it, Draco. I know you better then most people give me credit. I saw the way you were looking at her, and I know what that look means because I've seen it before. So don't think you're fooling me, because you're not."
Draco sighed. "She understands me, Hermione. Better then anyone ever has. She knows how I feel because she's been there. She knows what it's like to be acting on pure, proud instinct, to try and have something you know you can never have, because you're not supposed to. She knows me in a way that nobody else ever has. Or ever will."
Hermione nodded. "So, let me guess. There was an immediate attraction, followed by a short explanation from someone else, probably Mr. Giles, about both of your pasts. You were put in the same room, alone I might add, so that attraction was just ten times stronger, you probably had sex, had some telling revelation about each other, and then stayed up until dawn talking." She looked up at him. "How am I doing so far?"
Draco blinked. "You're better at this then Trelawney ever gave you credit for, did you know that?"
Hermione slipped her arm through his, smiling. "I try."
~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Will! Wait up!"
Willow turned around when she saw Faith and Xander running to catch up with her. She smiled. "So, you decided to join the food brigade?"
"Food is good. And I always was part of the snack brigade back in high school, so I figured, why stop now." Xander said innocently.
"You wanted to know about Draco and me, so you followed me while I was alone."
"That too." Xander said shrugging.
"Look, I got some of the story from B. I just want to know the rest. From you."
"And me, being your best friend and all, would like to know more about the guy you've fallen for after twenty-four hours."
"It's not that simple." Willow said. "And 'fallen for' is saying it likely. It's more then that. It's a connection I've never had with anyone. Not Oz, not Tara. I feel so...complete when I'm with him. I can't explain it. He knows what I've been through because he's been there, and I know that if I tell him about my past, he won't judge me. He knows what it's like to end up in a really dark place, and to be pulled back again, and all the steps in between. He knows what it's like to feel like the world is going to end, but that aching sadness is going to go on forever. He's tasted darkness, just like I have. And he knows how hard it is to return to any sense of normalcy."
"So, I'm guessing you two know everything about each other then?" Faith said.
Willow was confused. "I don't know what you mean."
"Well, there was an instant attraction, followed by a quick explanation from Giles. The two of you were in your room alone together, so you probably did the naughty, and then stayed up all night talking." She grinned at Willow and Xander's shocked faces. "Am I right?"
Willow just stared at her. "That's scary. Did anyone ever tell you that you're scary?"
"You mean besides Xander?"
"Hey!"
Willow laughed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Buffy was sitting in the livingroom with Harry. Angel was downstairs with Giles training with Dawn and the SIT's and no one else had returned from their walks yet.
"So, what's up with you and Draco?" Buffy asked, trying to relieve the silence. "You two don't seem to like each other very much.
Harry snorted. "That's an understatement. This is civil compared to how we used to be."
"You two must have really hated each other."
"Let's just put it this way - we were in rival houses in school - "
"Houses?"
"Oh, right - When you first get to Hogwarts, you're sorted into a house. There are four of them. Me, Hermione, and Ron were in Gryffindor, and Malfoy was in Slytherin."
"Oh. But Hermione seems to get along with him well enough."
"Hermione and Draco dated for a little over a year. She broke up with him, he joined his father on the enemy side, but that was the least of our problems, because the world was pretty much going to hell."
"That sounds vaguely familiar." Buffy said, leaning back into the couch cushion.
"Does it?"
"Sunnydale is on the Hellmouth, so we're prone to problems of the apocalyptic kind. That and the whole breaking up with boyfriend and him joining the enemy while the world goes to hell strikes a little close to home."
"What do you mean?"
Buffy looked at the clock. "How much time do you have?"
"Why?"
"Because if I tell you my story, then you have to tell me yours, and we are so going to be here a while."
Harry nodded. "I have time."