CHAPTER FIFTEEN: REVENGE
Monday, 8th February 1999
Monday came around again, and Buffy was injected with the dreaded compound. She'd felt her strength returning to her over the weekend, and had revelled in doing longer training sessions with her energy levels heightened. It was a shirt-lived feeling however, and she was back to being sluggish and tired.
She forced herself to go to breakfast, finding that it was better for her to eat in the mornings if she wanted to keep her energy up. She sat tiredly next to Blaise who offered her a piece of toast and a smile. Buffy smiled back and ate slowly.
"Did you get that essay for DADA done?" Blaise asked.
Buffy nodded. "Yup. You?"
"Yeah. It's probably not very good though," she replied.
"What's it on?"
"Oh, I researched something called the Judge. It had this whole no-weapons-forged deal about it," Blaise replied.
Buffy couldn't help the grin that came to her face at the memory of how she and the Scoobies had destroyed the Judge. The Rocket Launcher idea of Xander's had worked like a charm. It had been fun as well. Of course, the other memories surrounding that particular demon weren't all that fun. That had been the first demon she had battled with Angel working against her rather than at her side.
"So, if she couldn't use weapons, how did she kill it?" Buffy asked curiously, wondering if Blaise had come up with any other ideas.
Blaise shrugged. "That was the thing," Blaise admitted. "I couldn't think of any way creative enough for the Slayer to kill it. So, she ended up being killed by it. It just touched her and-"
"Burned the humanity out of her," Buffy finished quietly, not noticing that she had spoken aloud.
Blaise looked at her new friend with raised eyebrows. "Yeah. How did you know?"
Buffy's head snapped to attention and she shrugged a little. "Oh, I came across it when I was researching for the assignment."
"Came across what?" asked a new voice that made Buffy's heart beat just a little bit faster.
Draco dropped into the seat beside Buffy and stole the last of Buffy's toast from her plate. She swatted him half-heartedly, knowing that he only took her food to antagonise her, rather than because he was actually hungry.
"A demon called the Judge," Blaise answered.
"For the DADA assignment?"
The girls nodded. "What demon did you write about?" Blaise asked.
"I ended up writing about a Master Vampire," Draco replied.
"Angelus?" Buffy asked.
Draco nodded. "He was definitely a mean son of a bitch. Apparently there was this thing where he nailed a puppy to a girls door as a Valentine's Day gift."
Buffy shuddered. She hadn't liked hearing about that part of Angel's past.
"So, did your Slayer die, or did she kill Angelus?" Blaise asked.
Draco smirked. "What do you think Zabini?"
Blaise hesitated for a moment before chuckling slightly.
"She died a horrible bloody death. What's the bet she ended up being turned and her Watcher then had to kill her," Blaise surmised.
"Slayer's can't be turned," Buffy interjected. "There's this whole thing where they're protected by the Powers That Be."
Blaise and Draco looked at her, wondering how someone who'd only been studying Slayers and Vampires for a week could know so much about it. Buffy noticed their incredulous stares and shrugged sheepishly. "I read about it."
They both seemed to accept the vague answer and concentrated on eating breakfast.
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Ethan collected the essays, smirking at Buffy as she handed her paper in confidently. She'd been sure to choose a demon that Ethan couldn't say she needed proof of. She'd researched the demon even though she could remember the details of it vividly. She wasn't about to let Ethan fail her based on a loophole.
He led the class into an open discussion on anything that they had researched and wanted to know more about. After several questions from Hermione, wanting to know more about certain demons, Buffy raised her hand.
"Miss Summers?"
Buffy forced herself not to smirk and managed to keep a straight face as she asked her question.
"I came across a certain demon when I was researching for the paper. I thought you might know a little bit about it," she began. She saw Ethan pale as he caught on to what she was talking about. "Do you know anything about a demon called Eyghon?"
He glared at her momentarily before regaining his composure.
"I'm not sure I've heard about that particular demon," Ethan said, lying through his teeth.
"Oh…if it helps, it's one that needs to be summoned. The mark of the demon is tattooed onto members of a circle of people who want to invoke the spirit of the demon into themselves. Wouldn't something like that be really dangerous?" she asked innocently.
Ethan had to give her credit for the idea. He'd made her uncomfortable the week before, and she'd turned the tables on him quite well. He knew for certain that she was definitely a protégé of Ripper's.
"I'm sure it would be dangerous," he agreed.
"Not something that people should be messing with then," Buffy said.
Blaise, who was next to Buffy, looked curiously at her friend. There was something deeper than Buffy's curiousity at play, and she wanted to know what it was.
"No," Ethan replied.
Buffy grinned smugly and let Ethan move on from the topic. She could tell that he was a little shaken from her question. It was obviously something that he hadn't mentioned to Dumbledore before getting the job as the DADA Professor at Hogwarts.
Class continued and eventually they were let out. Ethan grabbed Buffy's arm before she could walk out the door. He made sure the other students were out of the classroom before pushing her against the wall. Unknown to Ethan, though, Draco and Blaise waited outside the door, waiting for her, listening to their conversation.
"What do you think you're playing at?" he demanded angrily.
Buffy just smirked and pushed him away from her.
"The same thing you tried to do to me. Payback's a bitch isn't it?" she replied.
"I don't know about payback being one, but you certainly are."
She smiled innocently and began walking out of the room.
"You know, I think I finally get why you're in Slytherin. You really are an evil and manipulative little witch, aren't you?"
Buffy stopped and turned to look at him, glaring so hard that most vampires would have scampered away in fright.
"I am not evil," she said calmly, her voice steady and calm.
Ethan just raised his eyebrows.
"I don't have to remind you of why you're really here, do I?" Ethan asked, finally feeling as though he'd gained the upper hand over her. He could see that she was uncomfortable with being reminded of why she was Hogwarts.
"No Ethan, you really don't," Buffy replied coldly.
"I'm not the one going around killing people randomly," Ethan reminded her.
"Does the name Randall Montgomery mean anything to you?" Buffy asked.
Ethan pulled back. He'd forgotten that Giles would have told her about his exploits as Ripper.
"That's right, Ethan. I know all about what happened with him. You can act as high and mighty as you want, but don't you dare get all hypocritical on me," Buffy said angrily. "Besides which, I'm not guilty and you know it. I couldn't even kill you even though I really wanted to."
Ethan stepped back and regarded her intensely. A smile broke out onto his face, a smile that made Buffy highly uncomfortable.
"You really do have a little Ripper in you, don't you,"
Ethan said. "But, I guess that does
make sense. I wasn't the only one
involved in that little foray into the dark arts. You precious Giles is as much to blame as I was."
"At least he felt guilty about it," Buffy retorted. "You don't give a crap about anyone except yourself."
Ethan scowled. "That's right," he replied bitterly. "I don't care. In fact, I care so little that I could have you expelled so fast that you'd be shipped off to the Council."
Buffy wanted nothing more than to smack the smirking grin off Ethan's face, but she didn't dare strike a teacher, especially one that was already threatening expulsion.
"You're an asshole Ethan," Buffy said quietly.
Ethan just grinned.
"That's Professor arsehole to you. And believe me, Summers, I'll get my own payback."
He watched her storm out of the classroom. He wanted desperately to pay her back for making him uneasy. And he had the perfect way to do it as well. All he had to do was find the perfect instrument for his revenge.
He turned away, completely
concentrating on a plan for his payback, too preoccupied to notice Pansy
Parkinson sneak out the back exit, her own plans for revenge in the making.
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Buffy walked out of the classroom and very nearly missed Draco and Blaise standing in the hallway. She could only pray that they'd missed half of the conversation. She was just grateful that Ethan hadn't mentioned anything about her being the Slayer during the conversation. Whilst they'd been angry with each other, nothing had been said that would give her identity away.
"What was that about?" Blaise asked.
Buffy shook her head. "It was nothing," she replied vaguely.
Draco and Blaise exchanged glances. "That wasn't nothing Summers," Draco said.
They followed her as she walked quickly towards eth Great Hall, wanting nothing more than to sit down and forget that Ethan Rayne was still plaguing her life.
"Please, just drop it," Buffy said quietly.
Blaise sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to get any information out of Buffy if she continued to push her for it. Draco, however, wasn't quite to observant or knowledgeable when it came to dealing with girls.
"Buffy, tell us what's going on," Draco demanded.
Buffy stopped and turned to him, anger on her face, fire blazing brightly in her normally gentle hazel eyes.
"I said drop it," she snapped.
She stalked off angrily before Draco could work out what had gone wrong. He snapped out of his stupor and went to chase after her. Blaise caught hold of his wrist and shook her head.
"Just drop it Malfoy," Blaise said gently. "She'll talk when she wants to."
Draco looked back to Buffy who had managed to walk away from them extremely quickly.
"What do you think is going on between Summers and the Professor?" Draco asked.
Blaise shrugged her shoulders. "Not sure."
"You don't think…" he trailed off and made a vague hand gesture.
"Oh, ew!" Blaise exclaimed, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Malfoy, you're disgusting."
"It's possible," Draco defended his idea. "But not probable. Why would Summers go for someone like Professor Rayne? There's some sort of history there, and I for one would love to know what it was."
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