Chapter Twenty-Four

Making Plans and Preparations

After lunch, the group gathered once more. The atmosphere was more relaxed then the previous one. They all had time to process all the new information and what it meant for the future.

They sat around staring at each other waiting for someone to start talking. The scooby gang kept glancing at Giles, who generally started the meetings. While the watcher kept waiting for Dumbledore to speak since he was the headmaster.

Finally Anya couldn't take the silence anymore and spoke up. "So, Dawn was an elf? Better than a rabbit."

Everyone looked at her.

"What? I might have freaked knowing that."

"A rabbit?" Snape asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They're extremely upsetting. All that twitching and hopping. I don't understand why there's a holiday centering around one entering everyone's homes leaving candy and hiding eggs..."

"Anya!" Giles cried, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, it is creepy when you think about it," she said matter-of-factly.

The entire scooby gang stifled a groan.

"Well," Giles began hastily, hoping to shut Anya up. "It would appear that Dawn should begin to learn to use her other powers."

"I'm confused," Buffy said.

"About what?"

"You said the key was what enabled her to be a wand using witch, right?"

"That's correct," Dumbledore answered.

"Then why does she have other powers? I can understand being able to open portals, But not the other stuff, like how she set those demons on fire."

"That's a very good question, Miss Summers. I believe that the powers Nerdanal had learned and the one given to her by Melian are part of the key. Therefore it is possible to access them separately from the key's other properties. However, the magic is still in her blood, enabling her to use a wand."
"Huh, makes sense. I guess." Buffy said thoughtfully.

"Severus, is it possible that Voldemort knows about the key?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape furrowed his brow as he sorted through his memories. "I don't think so. If he has, he's never spoken to me about it. It is something he would be greatly interested in if he ever heard about it."

"Then let us assume that he is planning something else, or the threat is coming from somewhere else."

"Tara and I can look and see if there are any prophecies coming up," Willow supplied.

"And how would you be able to do that," Snape sneered. "They don't exactly give you precise dates."

Willow narrowed her eyes and her voice lowered slightly. "Actually, they do, if you know what you're looking for. The last year was pretty slow on the hellmouth, so Tara and I went through and started cataloging the prophecies."
Snape's eyes widened in surprise.

"That must have been quite a task," McGonagall said. "I wouldn't mind looking through those myself."
"We haven't gone through everything, but you're welcome to join us." Tara said with a shy smile.

"I'll also contact the council and see if they've heard anything," Giles said.

"Demon-girl and I can use our demon contacts."
"I'll contact my sources, and Severus can get in touch with his," Dumbledore added.

"What about my training?" Dawn asked quietly.

"Why don't you translate the book, and then Tara and I can help you." Willow said gently.

Dawn nodded her head.

"Then I suggest we all get started," Dumbledore said as he rose from the chair and headed out the door.

*********

Later that afternoon, Dawn was sitting at a table in the corner of the scooby common room when she felt a familiar presence sit next to her. She closed her eyes and leaned over onto Spike's shoulder. He gently put his arm around her waist and lightly kissed the top of her head.

"How you holding up Nibblet?"

"Fine, I guess. This is a lot to take in at once. But seeing as how I'm handling this better than when I found out I was the key, things are ok."
"Still doesn't change the way we see you, you know."
"Yeah. We all have our weird little quirks. Mine's just a little weirder than most."

Spike chuckled lightly. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off? These past two days have been rather grueling. Go find blondie and do some talking. And I mean talking, not snogging. He seemed a little surprised and hurt earlier."

"I know. I'm just giving him some time to cool off and adjust. Then I'll talk to him."

"Sounds reasonable. Don't work too long," he said as he started to stand.

"I won't. I'm almost to a stopping point anyway."
"Love you, 'Bit."

Dawn looked up at him with a smile, "love you too, Spike."

********

Dawn was looking out the window when Draco entered the little room.

"So how are you doing?" He asked quietly.

"Dealing. You?"

"Dealing."

"Listen Draco, I'm sorry about not telling you what Doyle had said. At the time I wasn't even sure how I felt about you, let alone how you felt about me."

"I understand."
"And I didn't want you to think that I did it out of pity, cause I didn't."
"I understand."

"I just wanted..."

"Dawn! I understand."

"You do?" She asked, turning to face him.

"Yeah. I told you to just give me some time. I just tried to see things from your perspective and I understand."
"Thank god!" She cried as she wrapped her arms around him.

He quickly returned the embrace and buried his face in her hair. He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of her in his arms. He had a feeling that things were about to get hectic and he wanted to make sure he made the most of it.

Dawn shifted slightly so she could snuggle up against him. His thumb started to trace lazy circles on the small of her back. She sighed and snuggled closer.

"So did you read anything interesting?"

"Yeah. Apparently I can control the four elements, air, water, fire, and earth. That's how I killed those demons. I had tapped into fire somehow. I start my training with Willow and Tara on Wednesday."
Draco inwardly sighed. He just knew things were about to get busy.

"Plus, I think Buffy and Spike want you to do some additional training. Since you're going to be a key player, they want you to be ready."
"What kind of additional training?" He asked warily.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Dunno. I think it has something to do with combining magic with Buffy's class. Oh! And I think weapons are involved."
"Weapons are good."
Dawn just rolled her eyes.

********

The next evening the students had gathered for their daily training session. They chatted easily amongst themselves while they stretched.

Before too long, Buffy and Spike entered the room. They asked everyone to stand and pay attention.

"We're going to do things a little differently for the next month or so," Buffy said. "Hermione and Neville, the two of you are going to start sparring every night."

"As for the rest of you, you'll still be sparring. Only instead of one-on-one, we're going to start focusing on group attacks," Spike said. And then he explained, "You need to learn this style cause the bad guys never fight fairly. They'll try to use numbers to overwhelm you. Much like the D'gathi tried at Hogsmeade."

"You guys need to learn to be aware of everything around you, how to fight like a team, and how to fight off more than one person at a time. Any questions so far?" Buffy asked.

When she got none, she led Hermione and Neville to one side of the room to work with them. That left Spike with the rest of the students.

"Dawn and Draco, I want you two to defend. Ron, Harry, and Ginny you three attack at the same time. Whenever you're ready."

The defenders stood facing away from each other, but with enough space between them so they could still move without hitting each other. The other three circled them slowly trying to figure out the best attack.

Then as one, the three leaped forward and the fight began. Dawn ducked a swing from Ginny and straightened in time to stop a fist from Harry and land a punch of her own. Sensing Draco, she dropped to one knee as he flipped Ron over her. The redhead landed on top of the other two attackers, knocking them into an unceremonious heap on the floor.

"Gerroff!" Ginny cried. "You're squashing me you big oaf!"

Spike laughed and helped Ron up. "Not bad." He turned to Dawn, "How did you know that he would do that?"

"I didn't. I just got this feeling that I should be ducking."

"Huh. Draco, did you know she was right behind you?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't you think Ron would fall on her?"

"No, I knew that she'd move."
"How?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders, "Just a feeling I got."

Spike raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. But he stopped his mind from wandering before it started, enough time to do that later.

"All right, this time Draco and Ginny defend, the rest attack." Spike then stepped back to watch.

This time the skirmish lasted a little longer. Draco busily defended himself from Dawn and Ron, while Harry had gone after Ginny. Spike couldn't help but notice the ease of the sparring between Dawn and Draco. It kind of reminded him of Buffy and himself.

And so the session continued. Spike would switch the defenders and attackers from time to time. He also gave them small breaks to give them chances to breathe. When the session was over, Spike asked Dawn and Draco to stay behind.

"Do me a favor, spar with no holds barred. Give everything you got, no holding back." Spike said seriously.

"Spike, what's going on?"

"I'm testing a theory, luv."
"Should I be worried?"
"Nah. This could be a good thing." He nodded to let them know to start.

The two teens looked at each other and shrugged. They readied themselves, then attacked as one. As Spike asked, they held nothing back.

Draco was worried at first about hitting her too hard. But after she landed a punch that nearly made him see stars, he stopped holding back. Soon neither were landing many punches or kicks, but were blocking them.

"My god," Buffy whispered. "They're dancing."

"My suspicions were right. I could tell earlier this evening that there was a possible connection. I have a feeling that if you fought either one of them, the outcome would be this."

"Why?"

"You three are chosen, there's a connection. Remember Galadriel told her to let you two support her. I think she meant more than just moral support."
"Think we should train them separately from the others?"

"I think we can have them work after everyone else on the nights she's not with the wiccas, but still train with them."

Buffy just nodded as she watched the pair spar. A wry smile appeared on her lips as she thought, us Summers gals just can't stay away from the Malfoy boys.