Thanks for the reviews Madness and Mia. They made me giggle.
Date with a Dragon
By now the room was quite empty, and the scoobies were dismissed. Dawn and Andrew went to their rooms to play computer games, and Buffy and Willow went to train. Both groups had asked if Alex wanted to tag along, but he just wanted to go to his room, crawl into his sueded jersey pants and then into his warm cozy bed. He got as far as his portrait when a hand landed lightly on his arm, and forced him to turn around. He started in surprise at the sight of Draco Malfoy. "So, shall I call you Legolas?" Draco said with a roguish grin. "Uh, no thanks - hey, how did you know about that...it was supposed to be kept quiet!" Alex was all of a sudden very aware of everything that was going on around him. He truly did not know this guy, and although they were pretty much the same build, all Alex could do with his wand was change the color of one's hair. Not very effective. Quickly, Draco saw that he had unsettled Alex, and set out to make amends. "Well, to be honest, I knew as soon as I heard your last name. The Malfoy family library is rather extensive and there are a few books on historical magic. But I think, to truly put your mind at ease, I'm going to have to tell you that I was at the order meeting today. Dumbledore required me to go in case I had any more insight into my father's demented life." Draco grinned ruefully, "...and seeing as I'm not even one step closer to understanding his worship of Voldemort, I decided to leave early and find your room. Please believe me when I tell you that you're so much more interesting than this bloody war." Alex was still wary but he had to admit he was charmed. "Draco? I actually find the concept of a magic Wizarding War pretty fascinating -- it's not exactly the "norm" where I come from." Alex finished with another grin. "And where do you come from? Though you're a mage, you obviously were born muggle - American." The blonde was quite curious. "Californian, I'm from California." Alex responded, trying to figure out if Draco was insulting him or not. He was still a little unsure of Drano's intentions, even if it was quite obvious that there was some harmless flirtation going on, and some fabulous chemistry flowing. Alex figured that the best thing to do would be to get to know this intriguing man so, after only a slight bit of hesitation, he invited Draco for a walk around the school. Draco accepted.
They wandered around in silence for the first bit, both surreptitiously glancing at the other. They were both handsome young men and the portraits let them know this in no uncertain terms. Alex was the first to speak
"So Draco, I told you that in the Harry Potter books, you were always one of the evil villains. Why did you change?"
"You don't start with the easy questions, do you?" Draco said grimly.
"No, I start with the important ones...I need to know that my friends are trustworthy"
"Am I to be a...friend then?"
"Cute. But you're going to answer the question."
"Fine." Draco stopped walking. " Voldemort is hideous, unintelligent, and insane. I suspected a long time ago that he would not win the war, so I took my inheritance and ran to the other side" the wizard spat out angrily, "I had no intentions of bowing to a snake and certainly no intentions of marring my skin with something that resembles a black blob of ink in order to be at his beck and call." The blonde paused in order to calm down, "Does that answer your question?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Are you going to fight with us?"
"Honestly? Probably not. My talent lies in other directions" Malfoy said with a licentious smirk. The other man rolled his eyes so he continued, "Severus and I spend most of our time creating defensive potions to use out in the field. However I can't say for sure. I'm an auror, so if the time comes and I'm needed, I guess I will." There was a pause as the Scooby digested this. "Fair enough" commented Alex. "Okay you've used up your alloted amount of questions with the weight of those two. It's my turn." Draco smiled a vulpine smile.
"Are you single?"
"Yeah, I am" a slow smile crossed Alex's lips. This was a nice turn of events.
"Good. What's your favorite food?"
"Lasagna. But shouldn't you be asking me if we 'bat for the same team'?"
"bat for the same team?...oh" Draco chuckled, "Alex, no offense, but any man who has a Prada messenger bag and charms his hair to match his outfit probably 'rides his broom on the other side.'"
"Oh...okay" Alex felt his cheeks redden.
"Back to the questions now, luv. Do you like to dance? Can you dance?"
"Yeah, I like to dance...and I guess I can dance fairly well...now" he added the last word under his breath. Unfortunately Draco caught it. "There's a story there, isn't there?" He smirked, "Let me guess, you were a muggle caught in hard times and became a stripper for cash." This was a popular story line for muggle jokes.
"Next question" Alex strangled out. Draco shot an incredulous look at him but didn't push it.
"Okay next question, then. Would you like to go out with me on Friday night?" Draco wasn't one to let opportunity slip through his fingers. This man was enigmatic, and he wanted to solve the puzzle that was Alexander LaVelle.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Xander replied with surprise. "But please bear in mind that I'm not quite used to Wizarding dating"
"umm, Alex? It's really not any different…there are no weird customs or chants." He laughed, "In fact, we'll portkey to muggle London, if it makes you feel better."
"It actually does make me feel better although I hate the sensation of portkeying." He mumbled to himself. "Then again…I should just check... erm, you've never been a demon, right? Or rather, you're not one right now, are you?"
` Draco was amused but a little worried that the good - looking man in front of him was in the first stages of dementia. "No. Not since I last checked, but why would you ask?" Alex sank his head into his hands, "I have sort of a history of attracting them. You try and dating normal people on the Hell Mouth" he said miserably. The blonde didn't think he had heard right "You lived on a Bouche D'enfer? Fuck!" Draco was astounded that Alex sounded so casual about this.
All of a sudden Xander was tired. Images crashed through his mind of fires and death and destruction. He wanted to crawl into bed and hide again. Draco watched the pain flow through this beautiful man's eyes and saw him support himself on the wall. "Hey, hey," Draco started softly, "Let's get you back to your room. You must be wiped, spending time with the Golden Trio, then going to an Order meeting and finally, walking around with me. Let's get you back to your rooms" Xander shot a grateful smile at the wizard and allowed himself to lean on the man beside him. Plus, he thought to himself, there was the added benefit of the feel of Draco's arm around him and the warmth of the shoulders under his own arm, in taking up this man's offer of support. They walked like this, in silence once again until they got to his room. They turned to each other and let their hands drop. Draco grazed his knuckles against Alex's cheek, winked and said "Good night, my dark elf." He then turned on his heel and left.
Alex whispered the password to his room and got ready with a smile on his face. He had a date with a non demonic, gorgeous guy. Yes! He pulled on his pajamas and was asleep in moments.
The next morning Alex woke up refreshed and energetic and therefore decided that he had to get three things accomplished that day: find someone to help him train, work on school work, and finish the next 3 chapters in his family tome. He threw on a pair of jeans and the blue and gray Ravenclaw polo shirt he found in the closet, shoved on a pair of sneakers, and left in search of Dumbledore.
With some help from the local portraits, he found the entrance to the office quite easily. However, opening the gargoyle was an entirely different matter. He seemed to recall from the books that the passwords Dumbledore used were candies, however that was the books and not necessarily reality. After trying various candies and words, he leaned his head against the wall in frustration. "Please open up, Damnit, I just want to talk to him" With an audible 'snick' the gargoyle swung around to expose a set of stairs. Alex ran up them thankfully.
Dumbledore was sitting at his desk with several piles of paper in front of him, writing notes and signing papers. He looked up at the new Mage with a greeting. "Alex, I was expecting you a little later! We need to discuss training, do we not?"
"Yeah, I was wondering if you could recommend someone who would teach defensive spells to me. The book indicates that I need to teach most of the stuff to myself, but it also indicates that a proper Wizard or Witch may be able to guide me in some of the basic defensive spells. Do you have someone in mind?" Alex asked. Dumbledore looked pensive for a moment and then said, "Ron Weasely is my primary choice. He has grown into a patient young man and I know that he has a strong background in defensive spells due to his friendship with Harry. Though he is an Auror, he should be able to take an hour or so each night to work with you. Would that do?" The young man was a little worried. He knew that there was no love lost between Ron and Draco. However, he wasn't going to let that stand in the way, if Ron was the best teacher for him. "Yes that will be fine." Dumbledore looked satisfied. "My dear boy, would you like to accompany me to breakfast this morning?" he asked quite graciously. Xander realized he was starving and looked up with a grin, "Sure Headmaster Dumbledore."
They made their way to the great hall and sat down with the staff and the other scoobies. Dawn and Andrew were sitting together again this morning. He wondered if they meant to dress similarly. Dawn was wearing an A-line brown suede skirt with a long-sleeved fine knit wraparound black sweater and black boots, and Andrew was wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt with a brown suede shirt overtop. It was amusing.
Across the table sat Willow and Snape, who were a study in contrasts. Willow in her dark jewel toned clothes and Snape in his black and grey; they managed to bring the uniqueness out in each other. Buffy seemed, for the first time, to be happy just being alone. After almost bringing out Angelus again, she really needed space to be herself. Alex believed that she was probably pretty happy to find out that he had powers now; he could finally protect himself, rather than her always looking out for him. He turned back to his breakfast and concentrated on the yummy waffles in front of him.
At the end of breakfast the owls flew in, startling him once again. Although it had only been three days, he figured he needed to get used to this odd type of communication fast. A small owl landed in a tumble on to the napkin in front of him, and he saw that the note attached was for him. With all the scoobies looking on in great delight at the cute owl, he untied the letter from Ron and freed the little bird. It said:
Alex, I received an owl from Dumbledore last night which asked me if I would tutor you in some defenses against the dark arts. I know nothing about mage magic, but I have no problem with wizard defensive spells. I get off of work at four thirty, and can meet you in the Ravenclaw common room by five tomorrow. If this works for you, send Pigwidgeon back. Say hi to the 'scoobies' from me (I watched that cartoon while at Hermione's last summer so I caught the reference) -RonXander was grateful that he didn't have to find the owlery quite yet. He didn't think he wanted to do so right after breakfast. The big owls kind of unsettled him. He also thought that Dumbledore knew just way too much. He let the bitty owl rest on his napkin while he wrote a quick letter of acceptance, and then sent it on it's way. By then, the teachers had left Willow, Dawn and Andrew, Buffy, and Xander to themselves.
Dawn grinned, "So Xander, who's the note from? The gorgeous blonde you were walking with last night?"
"Alex," Willow pinned Dawn with a look, "was with someone last night?"
"What blonde? Who was she?" Buffy asked.
"or he!" Willow added with another pointed look, trying her best to respect her friends' wishes.
"Geez guys, give me a break. The letter was from Ron, he's going to tutor me in Defense against the Dark Arts." Alex said with a laugh.
"But Ron's a gorgeous red head..." Buffy realized what she had said and blushed.
"Really Buff, you interested? He's tutoring me, I could put in some good words?"
"Ha Ha Alexander LaVelle. We're not in high school anymore. Shut Up" The blonde shot back. "And I see you've avoided the question…c'mon tell us" "OH!" Willow clapped her hand over her mouth as she realized who it was. She turned to her best friend. "No way! You're kidding me...Is he nice? He'd better be nice if he's dating you. You don't need any more demons or cheerleaders..."
Dawn was ticked, "Who is it, Dammit,Why am I the last to know anything. Please tell me Xanderrrrr," she whinged, while giving him her best puppy dog look. Yeah he was a sucker for it, but she was like his kid sister, so it was okay that he was a pushover. "It's Draco Malfoy" Xander smirked. "What!" Buffy, Andrew and Dawn all said collectively. "Yeah, apparently he was at the meeting last night. When I went back to my rooms, he was waiting at the portrait for me. We walked and talked. We're going out on the weekend" The brunette shrugged. "He seems really nice and sweet, I figured what the hell? At the very least, he's not a demon, and he's on our side." "So do I need to give him the shovel talk?" Willow asked with a grin. "No, not yet at least. I don't want to jump the gun here, guys. It's only one date." He smiled and decided to get his revenge. "So Willow, Snape seems like a pretty big guy. Should I take Buffy with me when I give him the shovel talk?" "Uh, Alex, he's pretty much afraid of me. He mumbled something about being a wand less witch and being touched by the dark side. Man, I understand that I screwed up, but I've been able to keep my magic under control for the past two years! How sucky...and all this 'wandless' stuff is dumb. Who care if you use a stick - no offense guys- or not. All that matters is that the magic gets done. And yes, Snape agrees with that, and he agrees with lots of the things I say, but he doesn't seem to be attracted to me...and I'm supposed to be gay anyways so this all doesn't matter..." Willow stopped babbling with a distressed look. Alex felt bad. "Ah Wills, it'll work out if it's meant to." He decided to change the topic. "What about you two," he said to Dawn and Andrew, "You do realize you match right? Are you guys going to finally admit your torrid love affair?" "Xan- Alex! My sister is too young to have sordid love affairs!" Buffy exclaimed. "One, I didn't say sordid, I said torrid. And two, she's as old as I was when I met Anya. She's 18, Andrew is 22, they're fine." He then turned to the two in question. "So, what's up guys. Are you guys together or what? Dawn and Andrew looked embarrassed. "We haven't really talked about it." Andrew said, with a quick glance at Dawn. Then he smiled and added, "but when we figure it out, we'll give each other the shovel talk" Dawn grinned and very clearly said, "Next topic!"
Alex got up. "Actually guys, I'm off to the library to work on my architecture homework and read LaVelle. Anybody on their way there?" The rest of the scoobies decided to follow his lead and do research and homework.
The morning passed quite quickly, considering the fact that everyone had homework to do. It was an interesting sight: five young people, each at a laptop, in a library that had to be centuries old and had probably never been redecorated, except for the addition of recently written or acquired books. A house elf brought food to the library (Madame Pinze was nowhere to be found) and they spent the afternoon doing research on Voldemort, the villages and people he targeted, and the people he chose to become Death Eaters. By the time Alex had to go meet Ron, they were pretty familiar with the basic problem and realized that they now had to create a plan of defense and attack. Well, the scoobies were used to that.
Xander left Dawn and Andrew reading books on defensive spells, and Willow attempting to figure out some sort of defenses for Avada Kadavra, Crucio and Imperio. He assured them that he would come collect them in time for dinner and then went to go meet Ron in the Ravenclaw Common Room. Ron reminded Alex of Oz for some reason. In the books he was happy, hyper and talkative. In person he was pretty reserved around most people except for Harry and Hermione. However, he was a nice enough guy, and a great teacher. Within the hour, the mage knew expelliarmus, brouillard d'esprit, manille d'esprit among some simpler hexes and charms. It was a start. Ron seemed pleased at the progress. At six, the wizard flooed back to his and Harry's apartment, and Alex went to the library to pick up his friends for dinner and to pick up his things which he had left earlier. They ate their dinner quickly, and then went back to the library. The Hogwarts teachers were impressed at the commitment, but had doubts whether it would continue once the scoobies encountered a stumbling block.
That evening, after he had taught the new spells to the matching friends, Xander brought up the fact that he wasn't the only one with untrained magic. Dawn and Andrew might as well get started on some defensive spells as well. It was decided that Dawn and Andrew would owl Ron that night and ask him if he would, for an additional fee, tutor all three of them. The rest of the night was spent reading. Dawn was reading Destroying Dark Wizards, Andrew was reading Dark Wizards and their Downfalls, Buffy - Damning the Dark Wizards, and Willow was reading, Ye Olde Dark Wizard Grimoire. Alex decided that he really needed to read LaVelle. At about midnight the group broke up with some new ideas and old headaches, and decided to meet at the great hall tomorrow morning again at 8AM to do their university work for the morning.
Alex went running again. He just didn't quite understand what was special about himself. Oh, he had okay self esteem, but this Elven Warrior Mage thing seemed a little much for plain old Alex to be capable of. He all of a sudden remembered the summer Buffy "quit" slaying and mentally slapped himself. He now understood a bit more why she left and then came bacIt was exactly the same. He had to do what he was called to do just as Buffy had. Such was life. He got back to the castle, went to his room and, after toeing off his rather expensive running shoes, collapsing fully clothed on his bed. He was really fuckin' tired.
Alexander LaVelle woke up on the wrong side of the bed the next morning. The shower was so cold that he almost slipped when he backed away from the spray. He couldn't find the art history books he needed to write a paper on and when he did find them on top of the armoire, he swore he didn't put them there. The shirt he wanted to wear had a stain on it, and when he finally escaped his room, Peeves was following him singing,
LaVelle, LaVelle, the Elven King S'posed to save us, but knows nothing Can he do it? Is he able? Or is this all some dumb fable.
The Poltergeist left him alone when he got to Breakfast, thank goodness. He noticed Dawn and Andrew holding hands, and felt a little better. They deserved to be happy. Well, at least Dawn did. 'Again with the matching outfits' he thought to himself, "Hey Dawndrew, didja know you match again" he called. They looked down at each other and then blushed simultaneously. Andrew was decked out in jeans, a white t-shirt, and a white button down, and Dawn, a jean skirt and a fitted white button down. It was uncanny. The group settled down and did school work for the morning in the great hall and then after lunch retired to the library. At five, Andrew, Dawn, and Alex went to meet Ron for tutoring, and after realizing that Alex naturally picked up magic faster, decided to mainly watch the new spells being learned, take notes, and then practice the new spells later. The system worked fairly well. The scoobies then met up for dinner, retired to the library for a 'research party' and were in bed by 12. Alex had decided that late night runs were bad for early morning Karma and resolved to run before breakfast.
This schedule seemed to hold for the next few days, and the scoobies had actually come up with some interesting defensive and offensive ideas for the Order of the Phoenix to look over. By Thursday afternoon Willow had found a counter to Crucio. It was Estasio and it demanded a great deal of effort. Estasio shot currents of exquisite pleasure through your body to force out the negative energy that Crucio produced. It was by no means a spell that everyone could do, but when she went around testing it, most of the professors were able to cast it. They decided to celebrate, and did so by taking the night off. The five of them flooed to the Three Broomsticks, went through the Leaky Cauldron to a Dance Club called Alpha-Omega, and danced the night away. When they returned at midnight, they were still tipsy and unstoppably giggly. The ghosts avoided them and Peeves even was reluctant to poke fun, knowing that the group would turn their wicked humor back on him. It was 2 am when the Scoobies got themselves into bed. As soon as Alex laid down, he was disturbed by a tapping at his window. Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed his wand, and threw open the window hoping it was a tree branch or something. It was a large owl carrying a note. The owl stood still while he untied the note and then flew away. Weird. "I thought they were supposed to stick around until you were done reading," he grunted. The note was from Draco.
Alex, I hope this letter finds you well. I just wanted to let you know that I'll pick you up at your portrait at 7:00PM tomorrow for our date. Casual dress is fine. Sleep well. Draco
A large smile crossed the brunettes lips. He had a date. He went to sleep with that on his mind and dreamed of beautiful blondes doing rather epicurean things.
The Date
Suffice it to say Alex woke up late. All the scoobies woke up late, true, but not all of them woke up late with a head ache, a hangover and yet smiled all through breakfast. After watching the young people suffer all through breakfast, Mme Pomfrey surreptitiously cast de-hangover spells on them while on her way out of the Great Hall. They thanked her profusely. Then they turned on Xander. "So, care to tell us why you're all Guy Smilie today?" chirped Dawn. He blushed, "well I got a letter last night from Draco that kinda reassured me that I still had a date tonight. I was beginning to wonder...I really wish cell phones could be charmed to work here." Buffy cut in, "you're not nervous are you?" She asked.
"Well, yeah, kind of. It's been ages since I've been on a date."
"But what about that guy who you brought home a couple of times weren't you dating him? What was his name again...oh yeah Brian. He was in advertising wasn't he...what about him?" Willow asked, not seeing the mage's facial attempts to get her to shut up.
"Uh Willow, we weren't exactly dating...we were just...together"
"oh. Oh. Oops." She replied, embarassed at her niavete.
"No Prob. He was pining after some guy in Pennsylvania anyways. Go figure" he added.
"So what are you nervous about?" Dawn asked.
"Clothing right? Right? It's what I'm worried about when I go out on dates…"Andrew trailed off. "Yeah, that actually is one of the things I'm worried about. I don't think Draco understands that casual to me means jeans and a t shirt."
"Don't worry Bud. We'll find you a cool outfit after lunch. It'll give you enough time to change your chosen date clothes…and if you're still having questions, it will probably give you enough time to Owl Draco, and find out exactly what he meant by casual." Willow always knew how to take care of her Xander, even if he was less her Xander now, and more his own Alex.
"Oh, and you have to email Ron to cancel your training session today." Buffy would be the one to remember Ron.
"Oh yeah - wait! No, I don't have to cancel." He paused, "It will just fit. Draco's picking me up at 7:00PM so I'll do the training at five, get ready at six, and I'll have less time to worry. It's perfect" Alex grinned.
"Okay, I hate to be the downer here, but we really have to get our school stuff done if we want to do anything exciting tomorrow, guys." Willow, always the voice of reason, continued on, "Hermione, Ginny - Ron's little sister, Ron, and Harry are coming to Hogwarts to teach us how to fly and how to play quidditch." With an incentive like flying, as one, the five friends turned to the books, computers, and notes in front of them and started working. Even Alex was able to concentrate. When lunch rolled around, the professors were surprised to see that the young people hadn't moved since breakfast, and that they didn't seem to stop for lunch. This seemed very "American" to them; the grueling work schedule was just not a European attitude.
After lunch, Andrew and Dawn went to study in the library, and Willow, Buffy and Alex went to find an outfit for his date that night. They decided on black Italian leather shoes, a pair of brownish wool woven straight cut pants, a black plaque belt, and a midnight black button down untucked under a black fitted knee length jacket. Buffy insisted that they charm his hair to be dark brown with lighter bronze highlights later that night. The young man then threw the girls out, told them he'd meet them in the library in an hour, and went jogging.
When he went back to the library, he was still in his jogging stuff. He decided to get back to the LaVelle book, and managed to read another three chapters before going to meet Ron. This time Buffy came with them to watch (though he didn't know whether she was watching Ron, or their progress) because Willow was going to work with Snape on some spell ideas she wanted to bounce off of someone with experience in the field of Defense against the Dark Arts. About halfway through the session, he began to get nervous about the date. Surprisingly it was Andrew who noticed the fact that Alex was getting sidetracked and, thinking back to his own experience, figured that it had to be the up and coming date. Andrew caught Dawn's attention, and then flicked his gaze to the distracted mage, and whispered "he's nervous, follow my lead" under his breath. The couple proceeded to inundate the Wizard with questions until 6PM whereupon Alex flew out the door to his room, leaving a confused Ron and Buffy, and a proud Dawn and Andrew.
Alex had rushed so fast he was dressed and ready with fifteen minutes to spare. It was truly impressive. He checked his wallet to make sure he had enough money, and made sure he had his visa, his ID, and his Passport just in case. He sat in his sitting room and looked at the ceiling. He decided to brush his teeth one more time, 'just in case' - at the very least, it would pass the time.
At exactly 7:00PM there was a knock at the portrait. Alex opened it to find a gorgeous smiling Draco Malfoy at his door. He couldn't keep the grin off of his own face. "Hey Draco!"
"Hi Alex, how was your week?"
"Good, excellent, we actually made an amaz-well, how about we leave that for later. I'm good, Draco, how are you?" he decided to keep it simple.
"I'm quite well thank you." Draco said with a flourish, "but don't you really want to know where we're going?" he said with a cheeky grin.
Alex laughed, "well now that you mentioned it, I would like to know where I'm going to spend the night...uh, evening, I meant evening...Damn" Draco leered playfully and answered, "I've decided to make this date both muggle and wizard just for you, my dark elf. We're going to a muggle movie, then to dinner at my favorite Wizarding restaurant, Artemis, and then on to drinks at Pucks". Draco was actually quite sensitive when he wanted to be. He knew that Alex would be much more comfortable in a muggle movie theatre than watching a wizard show with tons of magic and other new things. He was fine either way, as long as he got to spend his evening with this intelligent gorgeous man.
They first portkeyed to the theatre, and decided to watch the latest campy horror, Blood of the Damned, to lighten things up. They each bought tickets, and sat down to the movie, thinking it would be amusing. Needless to say, it wasn't.
"That was absolute bullshit!" Alex hissed to Draco upon exiting the theatre, clearly upset. "Vampires are nothing like that! They're not romantic leads, they're mostly evil. And when you forget that the romantic lead is really a demon, he turns around and does something like sell demon eggs on the black market or worse, kill people you love. Fuck!" The mage ran his fingers through his hair roughly.
"Uh, Alex, it was a movie, you do know what a movie is, right? It's fake." Draco had no clue what this outburst was about.
"Yeah, right. Tell that to Buffy. I thought you were at the meeting!"
"They mentioned she was a slayer but I must have been concentrating on the brunette in front of her" Draco joked, trying to loosen Alex up. The agitated man shot Draco a rueful look. "Thanks. But I'm serious here. Buffy's the vampire slayer. Or rather, a vampire slayer. Although the last year was spent being your average Joe, I've spent the past eight or nine years helping her fight vampires and other big bads. For fuck's sakes I even lived with one!" Xander finished in a huff. "Lived with what, a vampire? Don't they live in crypts and stuff?" Draco asked. "Yeah most of the time. Or empty buildings and houses. They like to have Lairs. It's kind of lame, really." Xander mused. "You're serious aren't you...well you did live on the Hellmouth. I guess you are serious. Okay...just let me...erg...digest this information." For the first time in his life Draco was baffled and rambling. "Fuck! I need a drink. Let's port key to Artemis's and then you can tell me the whole story." Draco held out a coin and activated the portkey to the Wizarding establishment's transportation area.
The restaurant was quite nicely done in shades of crème, wine, with gold accents and rich dark wood.
"Mr. Malfoy! This way please" They were escorted to a large booth in the back corner whereupon the waiter immediately took their order and left them alone.
"So tell me more about the vampire slayer."
"It's just that. One girl in all of the world chosen to defeat demons and vampires." Alex paused. "Only, this time, it was a friend of ours. So we helped her how we could." The wizard was constantly surprised at the humbleness of his new friend. He helped defeat vampires and demons, and he still seemed unsure of his worth. Draco's curiosity was piqued.
"And you grew up on the Bouche D'enfer?"
"We like to call it either the Hell Mouth or the La Boca del Infierno, but yes, that's where Willow, Andrew, Buffy, Dawn, and I grew up. It was underneath a town called Sunnydale. More specifically, it was beneath our high school."
"I remember reading about that city in the newspaper a year or so ago. Didn't it get blown up or something?" Draco asked.
"Yup. We blew it up along with the First Evil and his entourage of First Vampires. It's sort of a thing with us. We also blew up our high school, but that was a long time ago." Alex shrugged again. This was all old news to him. He had been aware of the hellmouth since he was 15, when Buffy came to his school. Draco however was still having some problems with his brevity.
"Um...Luv, it's all well and good for you to just toss random information at me, but it's a little unnerving. How about you tell me the whole story of the First Evil. At least then I'd have an idea of what you mean" Right in the middle of Draco's plea, the food came. The two of them dedicated themselves to the fine art of eating while Alex first explained a bit about the power of Buffy and Willow and the Slayerettes. After they were done he told the whole story -- even was able to mention Anya's part in it -- while Draco drank coffee and then wine. By the end of the story, he was ready for something a bit stronger. He, Draco Malfoy, son of first circle Death Eater Lucius, was speechless.
"Hey, Draco, you okay? Malfoy? Oh great, I broke him." Alex began mumbling to himself, "See this is why I should just stick with dating demons, at least I don't break them when I talk about my past...when they're not trying to sacrifice me for something...no, no, this is better. I'll just fix him." He leaned forward and waved his hand gently in front of Draco's face and the blonde finally snapped out of it.
"I'm fine, just amazed at you and your friends." He had to touch this amazing man, to make sure that he was truly in his life. He laid his hand on Alex's cheek. "You've done so much, and you finally had a break. Why on earth would anyone want to go back...And yet you're clearly willing to go back out there, and fight a Dark Wizard. Merlin's beard, how could any one have not known your Elven bravery?" Alex looked down, quite embarrassed. "Hey Draco, let's get the bill and get out of here. At Puck's I'll tell you about a singing demon." The blonde knew an escape when he heard one. It had only been about a year since The defeat of the First Evil and he had been rude to press this man. He quickly paid via his Wizard Express Card and then apparated them outside of Puck's. In the bright light of the martini bar he finally noticed Alex's outfit. "Dolce and Gabbana, right? I really liked that line...In fact, I think I have that jacket at home." Alex, finally comfortable again, said thanks and then took a moment to appreciate Draco's outfit while he was ordering drinks. He was impeccably dressed in slim black pants and a thick, grey flecked, black knit turtleneck that he thought might just be Dolce and Gabbana as well. He hoped that their matching tastes might bode well for their future. He grinned to himself - he was such a pouf!
Draco came back with drinks and Alex started telling him about the demon that caused them all to sing when he accidentally let it lose on Sunnydale. The blonde found it quite amusing, and began telling some stories about the Slytherins and the pranks they used to play. He even included some Golden Trio stories in the mix. The conversation turned serious as they talked about relationships, friendships, and family. They talked right up until the martini bar started shutting down.
Alex and Draco slowly made their way outside, and continued their quiet conversation until they reached their portkey. They walked outside of the bar and then turned to each other wondering what was going to happen next. Alex could feel himself falling for Draco but was the other man feeling the same? Draco saw the self doubt flash through this amazing man's eyes, and was stunned. Alexander simply did not know how phenomenal he was. Making a decision, Draco leaned forward and said softly, "Will you catch me if I fall for you?" then caught Alex's lips with his own in a searing kiss. It was a sweet surrender for both of them as the kiss turned passionate and their arms wound around in an almost protective embrace. Draco was the first to pull back. "uhm," he started with uncharacteristic gracelessness, "we need to pause for a moment. Are you returning to Hogwarts tonight? Or will you come home with me?...Please come home with me my dark elf." His voice was husky with emotion. Alex leaned his forehead against Draco's, his thoughts racing, his heart pounding. "Draco? I don't know if I can -" Draco cut him off. "No expectations, Alex. I just want your company." This time the mage instigated the kiss, his mouth open against Draco's in an attempt to get as close, as intimate with him as possible, their tongues intertwining, licking, tasting, sensuously. When Alex leaned back to take a breath, Draco took that moment to portkey them both to his Flat in Muggle London.
The travelling was enough to bring the mood back down from it's rather fevered pitch. Draco set about to find something for the brunette to wear, and found a pair of chocolate brown pajama bottoms and a t shirt. The two men were actually pretty much the same size so the fit was about right. Draco was a little thinner, but since the pajama bottoms had a tie waist, there was no problem. Draco was wearing black silk striped pajamas bottoms with a black t-shirt and the top to the pajama set on top.
"So...I'm pretty tired, Draco." Xander said honestly. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to the blonde, but he was so worn out that he might fall asleep in the middle of something important if they stayed up. After all it was already 3am.
Okay, well let me just show you around the apartment quickly, so that you know where things are in the morning, and then we'll go to bed"
Within ten minutes, the two of them were curled up in the king sized bed, talking in low voices. Draco leaned in for a good night kiss and Alex was happy to oblige. They fell asleep wrapped around each other.
At seven, Alex awoke to his internal clock. Grumbling to himself, he got out of bed, went to the bathroom, and then promptly crawled back into the very comfy bed, underneath the very comfy down comforter, and beside the very comfy blonde. Who was now awake thanks to the not so quiet man beside him. He decided to repay him with kisses. Lots of tiny kisses up and down the back of Alex's neck until Alex turned around and kissed him rather passionately. He then started nibbling down the front of his neck and managed to sneakily slip his hand up the front of Alex's toned chest and caress this tanned god's nipples. Alex groaned and rolled them over so that Draco was on top. He pulled off the blonde's shirt, threaded his hands through the almost platinum hair, and kissed Draco senseless. Draco was in heaven. Or at least almost there. Draco grabbed the ends of Alex's shirt, and practically tore it off. He began nibbling and licking his way down Alex's body, stopping to bite and lick at his nipples, and stopping to thrust his tongue seductively into his navel. He continued down to the edge of the pajamas and then looked up into the brunette's face for acceptance. Alex's speechlessness was broken, "Yes, yes God yes, Draco" Draco undid the tie and slid the pants down to reveal Alex's long thick length. He then licked once, from base to tip and then lightly swirled his tongue along the same path before taking the head in his mouth and sucking hard. Alex moaned. He then slid his mouth down the shaft as his hand moved up the base and set a relaxed pace. When the fingers from his other hand began to slowly circle and lightly probe his anus, Alex stopped Draco, pulled him up so that he was face to face, kissed him forcefully and then asked the blonde, very sweetly, to make love to him. Draco moaned, and then made his way back down the brunette's body. He then tongued the slit and slid his mouth the rest of the way down the shaft, teasing the head with his throat. He pulled off, leaned over to his bed table, and grabbed a condom and lube. He slicked his fingers in lube and slowly began to stretch Alex's tight hole while his mouth set a punishing rhythm until Alex came, calling his name. He then turned them both onto their side, slowly entered his beautiful man, and began slowly thrusting. He wanted this to be memorable, to last.
Alex felt better than he had in ages. He felt content and whole with Draco. With a bit of maneuvering, he kissed Draco and felt himself begin to harden again. He moaned when Draco pulled out, feeling bereft but understood when the wizard guided him on to his back. With a few well- placed pillows, Draco and Alex were able to face each other and were able to see the emotions in both of their eyes. The languid fucking became more intense and Draco leaned over and captured Alex's lips in a ferocious kiss, biting and pulling at the bottom lip as he pounded on the mage's prostate. Alex was keening now and he tightened around Draco as he came, bringing the blonde along with him. After wiping up their effluvia, the wizard collapsed, and smiled up at his lover. He gently pulled out and gathered the other man close to him. Within minutes they were sleeping peacefully, wrapped in each other.
They awoke to a tapping on the window. Draco leaned over, kissed Alex awake, and then opened the window. The very irate owl hooted madly before finally landing on the edge of the bed. Draco untied the note, then, seeing that it was addressed to Alex, passed it over. "Oh Shit! I forgot to tell them I wasn't coming home"
"You're a grown man, why would you?"
"In LA their were still a lot of "big bads" - both human and non-human - so we got in the habit of letting each other know if there was a chance we wouldn't be coming home that night...well it's...Shit! It's noon!" He sighed, "and I should've called or owled or whatever." Draco laughed and slipped his arm around Alex, "Then you're lucky that's not a howler" he said comfortingly.
Alexander LaVelle Harris! This morning we were all worried when you didn't come to breakfast and figured that someone didn't come home last night. You know the rule. Snape was nice enough to tell us the location of Draco's apartment so we're hoping you're there. Please owl us back to let us know you're fine. We postponed the Flying lessons until 2:00PM, so be at Hogwarts then. The ScoobiesP.S. we're expecting details...
Alex handed the letter to Draco.
"They're pretty good friends of yours, aren't they" Draco noted anxiously.
"Yeah. Yeah they are." Alex responded absentmindedly while writing a brief apology and explanation to his friends and tying it gently to the owl's leg
"So what are we?"
"Draco..." The brunette felt his heart plunge into his stomach at the prospect of maybe not having his feelings returned. He was reluctant to admit the depth of his feelings toward Draco because he, himself had never believed in love at first sight before meeting Draco. Now, however, was a different story. He didn't usually sleep with people this fast, and he was sure he and Draco had something special, something magic. His feelings for Draco were incredibly strong.
"Forget about it, don't worry about it, you don't have to answer that." Draco could feel his heart in his throat. He thought that it was an interesting new sensation. One that he didn't want to experience again.
"No, don't shut me out...Just. Wait..." Alex put his head in his hands "If only you knew how I felt" he mumbled.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think I could very possibly be falling in love with you after only one official date." Draco grinned ruefully at his own crazy emotions.
"Me too" said Alex. "So what are we?" Alex echoed the earlier statement. "Lovers? Boyfriends? Soulmates?"
"yeah, either one of those will do." The brunette laughed a very relieved laugh.
"So, Shower and then back to Hogwarts for you to change and flying lessons?"
"Yeah. I really need to go soon." He leaned over and cuddled up to his lover
They managed to take a quick shower together, with surprisingly few gropes and snogs, deciding they would explore the shower aspect of their relationship at another, more convenient time. Then Draco threw on a pair of black jeans, a sky blue fitted long sleeved shirt, a pair of white k-swiss on, and grabbed his broom, the Mercury XV. Alex threw on his rumpled clothes from last night, much to his displeasure.
They apparated to The Three Broomsticks, then flooed from there to the Hogwarts entrance, then ran to Alex's room, not really wanting to get caught by the staff in the same outfit he left last night with. However, the pictures all smirked at him with knowing looks. "Stupid wizarding pictures." Alex mumbled to himself, quickly letting himself into his room. Draco just laughed gently at his lover, not wanting to get into a muggle versus wizard debate. The brunette took off his rumpled clothes and put on a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved white logo shirt. He shoved on his cherry docs and the studded belt.
"Ah yes...I believe you're missing the streaks in your hair" Draco smirked. Xander realized he had worn the exact outfit a week before. "Uh, you're not one of those people who makes sure he wears something different every day, are you?" he wrinkled his nose. "Well, at one point I was, but since my situation has changed, I've grown up from the spoiled brat that I once was. Alex, you could wear the same bloody thing for ever, and I wouldn't care. As long as it was clean."
"Actually, I knew a vampire who wore the same out fit for about three years..."
"Tell me Alex, Do you have a story appropriate for every weird comment I make?"
"I've lived an odd life, Draco. Get used to it, because I'll probably rub off on you."
"Heaven forbid!" Draco grinned and gave his boyfriend a big kiss. "Do you know what your shirt says, luv?"
"Yeah, It's the sign for Dragon. There's an oriental dragon on the back of the shirt in the same colors. I thought it was cool." He said with a shrug. Though in the past year he had started to actually try to look fashionable, he usually bought things that seemed nifty to him, not that had any deep meaning. Draco continued his badgering.
"and Elvin warriors used to ride..."
"Dragons...oh"
"And your boyfriends name is...
"Draco...ah. Short for Draconis, which means dragon. Yeah, I get it" he laughed, then added rather playfully, "Do I get to ride you, as well, Drake?"
Draco's eyes bugged out rather unattractively. He was used to being the one to shock Alex. It seemed that the shoe was on the other foot now. He loved it and laughed delightedly. "Anytime, luv...Anyways, that's why I came over the first time. How could I not, when your shirt had already claimed me. It didn't help that you had the most beautiful intelligent brown eyes as well."
Alex groaned as Draco's husky voice washed over him.
"C'mere" he grabbed his blonde boyfriend and snogged him hard, carding his fingers through the soft platinum hair. The intensity rose a notch and the guys found themselves wrapped around each other again.
"Fuck we have to stop this, we have to go."
"Okay. Just give me a moment to calm down."
"Uh Draco, I'm guessing that removing your hand from my butt would help" Xander offered. Draco reluctantly pulled away.
"So, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione will be their today to teach us to fly..."
"Thanks. That did the trick. I'm calm now." Draco grinned unabashedly. Though he managed to work quite well with Ron Weasley, he still was easily irritated by his friends.
"You ready to go?" Alex was aching to get on a broom. He was glad his eye was better, because it would've probably hindered his ability to fly. Snape was right, the corrective potions would help his ability to fight well - he really needed to say thanks again. He would be able to fly with his boyfriend…how many of his friends could say that? Well, maybe Dawn and Andrew…ah well. He glanced over at the man in question, sensing his silence.
"I think so." Draco responded, "I was wondering, though. Your friends are really protective of you, aren't they?" "Yup. You'll probably get the shovel talk." He grinned and stood up to go. "Don't worry, I won't let Willow hurt you." He grabbed Draco's unresponsive hand (after all Willow was rather frightening sometimes) and pulled him out the portrait door and all the way to the Quidditch field.