CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE BLAME
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco raced towards the infirmary at full speed. When Professor Dumbledore had informed them of Buffy's whereabouts, none of them had even bothered finishing breakfast. Instead, the Gryffindor Trio had exchanged a glance for a split second before simultaneously standing up and racing from the Great Hall. Draco's reaction had been similar, except he'd actually spit out his mouthful of toast as he'd risen.
Giles was awoken by the sound of loud clambering feet running towards Buffy's bed. He looked up to see the four worried faces of Buffy's best friends.
"Is she alright?" Harry asked, desperate to know what had happened.
"She should be fine," Giles replied quietly.
"Should be?" Draco repeated angrily. He'd only been this worried once before in his life, and it had been in almost exactly the same situation. Things were never good when his cousin was laid up in the infirmary.
"She has yet to wake up," Giles clarified.
The group fell silent and stared at Buffy's sleeping figure. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked entirely unrested, even though she had slept for the last fifteen hours straight.
"What happened?" Hermione asked.
Giles sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't believe how badly the spell had gone. Whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been to have to watch Buffy begin screaming, start convulsing, and eventually pass out from the pain involved in the spell.
"The Ministry decided that Buffy had too much power," Giles explained bitterly, knowing that trying to keep anything from these four teenagers didn't help at all. They had a knack for discovering things on their own, and Buffy was likely to tell them what had happened in any case.
"Too much power?" Harry repeated. "That's not her fault! And it's not like she could do anything about it."
"Actually, Mr Potter…there was a part of her power that she could give up," Giles corrected the teenager gently. He knew how deeply Buffy and Harry cared about each other, and seeing Harry's concern and worry now only confirmed it even more.
The group fell silent, trying to work out what Giles was talking about. Unsurprisingly it was Hermione who worked it out first.
"Her slaying abilities," she said quietly.
Giles nodded in affirmation.
"The Ministry didn't want someone as magically powerful as Buffy having the physical strength as well," Giles explained.
The four teenagers scowled in disgust. Giles was just glad that he wasn't the only one who thought that the Ministry of Magic was entirely wrong in their judgement about Buffy.
"So…what happened?" Draco asked, his eyes on the still form of his cousin. "Why's she unconscious?"
Giles closed his eyes in shame.
"The spell…well…it wasn't entirely painless for her," he admitted.
Hermione felt as though she was about to be sick. Harry, Ron and Draco didn't look much farther behind.
"I'm gonna kill that git of a Minister," Ron growled angrily.
"Get in line," Draco added.
Giles looked up at the foursome with pain filled eyes.
"It wasn't Fudge that performed the spell," he said quietly. "I did it."
The four teens fell silent. They couldn't ever imagine their DADA Professor performing a spell on Buffy that would hurt her. From what they'd seen of Buffy and Giles the previous year, they knew that the two of them had a special bond that transcended almost anything. Giles was her guardian, her most trusted confidante, the man that Buffy considered a father. To hear that Giles was the one who had taken away her slaying abilities came as more than a shock to them.
"Why?" Hermione whispered, tears in her eyes.
Giles gave a snort of sarcastic laughter. "She wanted it to be someone she trusted."
Harry immediately saw how much Giles was tearing himself up about being the one to perform the spell on Buffy. He had to take pity on the man for it, when he was fairly certain that Giles would never have voluntarily done anything to hurt Buffy.
"Can you blame her for not wanting it to be Fudge?" Harry asked quietly. "She trusts you Professor Giles. And I know that when she wakes up, she'll tell you not to blame yourself for it."
"She'll still be angry," Giles replied.
"She'll be angry at the Ministry, not at you," Draco said forcefully. "It's that idiot Fudge's fault, not yours."
Giles closed his eyes tiredly and tried to swallow the sick feeling that had risen in his stomach.
"Professor, why don't you let one of us stay with her," Harry said, taking in Giles' apparent exhaustion. "Malfoy or I can sit with her. You really look like you need to sleep."
The DADA Professor weighed his options quickly. On the one hand, he desperately wanted to be there when Buffy woke up. He knew that Buffy hated hospitals, and that she would probably wish to speak to Giles the second she woke up, but he was having troubles staying awake.
He eventually nodded and stood up.
"You'll be sure to have someone inform me the moment she awakens, won't you?" he asked, looking at the two teenage boys who would undoubtedly protect Buffy with their own lives if it was required of them.
"Of course," Harry replied easily.
With that, Giles left the infirmary, heading directly to his room. He could only hope that Buffy didn't wake up until Giles had had at least six hours of sleep.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco exchanged glances.
"We should get to class," Hermione said, looking at Ron.
Ron nodded his agreement, and firmly decided that he didn't want to be in the infirmary when Harry and Draco began their argument about who was going to be the one to sit with the sleeping Buffy.
Hermione and Ron left quickly, leaving the two rivals standing on opposite sides of the bed.
"We uh…we could take it in shifts to sit with her," Harry suggested, trying to be somewhat amicable.
"Or we could both sit with her the whole time," Draco replied.
Harry and Draco were never going to be the best of friends. Harry knew that there was no way the two boys would ever just be able to sit down and play chess, or discuss Quidditch as Harry did with Ron. But ever since Draco's real relationship with Buffy had been revealed, Harry felt far less insecure about how close his girlfriend was to the Slytherin boy.
That didn't mean, however, that he and Draco could sit together and watch over an unconscious Buffy. Being left basically alone with Draco was not something that Harry particularly wanted to do.
Harry eventually nodded, knowing that Draco would be about as stubborn as Harry would be, and that neither of them were likely to leave the infirmary. They both pulled up chairs and sat opposite each other, looking intently at Buffy.
The silence lay thickly between them. Harry coughed uncomfortably.
"So…"
Draco looked up and scowled. "So what?"
Harry paused. They could either sit in horribly uncomfortable silence, or they could attempt to have a discussion of some sorts.
"How 'bout this weather we've been having?"
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"You really met Buffy's best friend?" Harry asked curiously.
Draco nodded. "She's nice. For a muggle," he qualified. "But she seemed nice enough. And Buffy seemed to have really missed her last year, so…if anyone can make Buffy smile like that, they're alright in my books."
Harry still couldn't quite get over the changes that Draco Malfoy had gone through over the years. He knew that Draco had changed after Lucius Malfoy had been imprisoned in Azkaban, but he'd never taken the time to get to know the other boy. He'd always seen Draco as an annoying git who always got his own way.
"She's pretty too," Draco added absently. "Kind of like an older Ginny Weasley."
Harry looked at him in shock. Draco Malfoy attracted to a muggle girl. And even more than that…had he just admitted to being attracted to Ginny? Harry didn't even want to think of that possibility and clung onto the first part of Draco's statement.
"You like her!" Harry exclaimed.
Harry had never seen Draco blush before. It was quite an entertaining sight.
"She's nearly nineteen bloody years old," Draco protested. "I said she was pretty, not that I wanted to date her."
Harry just chuckled. He was surprised that the four hours that they'd been sitting there together, they'd been able to hold a fairly civil conversation. Basically the only thing that they'd disagreed on was Quidditch and which house team was better. And seeing as Gryffindor currently only had two players, Draco was adamant that Slytherin was the better team.
"I'm sure Buffy could convince Willow that you were a decent enough guy," Harry said.
"Decent?" Draco scoffed. "I'm as bad as they come."
Harry just rolled his eyes. Draco sighed, knowing that ever since Buffy had come into his life, he'd basically lost his reputation as the Slytherin bad boy.
"You really need a girlfriend Malfoy," Harry commented.
"Well, all the good ones are either taken or related to me," Draco replied.
Harry just shook his head, remembering when he'd been jealous of the closeness between Buffy and Draco. He'd been immensely grateful to find out they were related, otherwise he was fairly certain that Draco could have given him a run for his money.
"Aren't there any nice Slytherin girls?" Harry asked curiously. He didn't know the Slytherin girls too well, only that most of them were horrible.
"Given a choice between Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Blaise Zabini, Claire McNair and Keeta Seffer, I'll think I'll stay single thank you," Draco said indignantly.
"They're not all horrible are they? Besides, I'm fairly certain that at least one of those five must like you," Harry said.
Draco rolled his eyes. He knew all too well that even though his reputation had been shattered to smithereens, he was still one of the most sought after students. Although, considering his main competition in Sixth Year was Crabbe and Goyle, that wasn't too surprising.
"I'm never going to another ball with Parkinson again, even if you paid me to," Draco said empathically. "Bulstrode's just too unattractive. McNair and Seffer are dull, and the only one worth half a toss is Zabini. Unfortunately, she's quite possible the bitchiest girl I've ever met. Both her parents were caught as Death-Eaters, so now she's the founder of the 'We hate Buffy Summers' club."
"Which means that she doesn't have a chance with you at all," Harry completed.
"Exactly," Draco agreed. He cast his gaze back down to look at Buffy's still sleeping form. "You've definitely scored yourself a keeper, Potter. You're pretty damn lucky."
"Don't I know it."
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K.