CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: PAYBACK

Monday, March 1st 1999

Monday morning came, and even though it was the beginning of the worst day of the week, Buffy still had a smile on her face.  She'd lost the race by barely an inch, and she'd been paying for it ever since.  Not that she minded, she recalled with a happy grin.  Most of Sunday had been spent studying with Blaise and Draco in Buffy's room.  Blaise had eventually left in disgust at the couple's antics, but she really was pleased to see her two friends so happily, mushily in love with each other.  All she needed now was a boyfriend of her own.

Buffy made her way to Professor Dumbledore's office, hating that even after four weeks of being at Hogwarts, she'd never been able to tell the Headmaster what had truly happened.  She'd never been able to think of a way to prove her innocence, which was what the main problem was.  And now she was torn between having Dumbledore learn the truth or not.  Once the truth finally got out, she'd be forced to leave Hogwarts.

And that was the problem.  Did she want to return home to her best friends, to her family?  Or did she want to stay at Hogwarts in the new life that she'd made?  It was hard to balance out.  On one hand, the only people at Hogwarts that she was particularly attached to were Draco, Blaise and Hermione, going back to Sunnydale meant returning to a life of fighting and of pain.  Staying in Hogwarts however, meant a life of distrust and suspicion and having her strength stolen from her.  It was a hard choice that Buffy didn't want to make.

She sighed and let herself into Dumbledore's office.

"Morning Professor," she greeted, still too happy from her previous day's activities with Draco to be upset about anything, including her weekly injection.

"Good morning Miss Summers," Dumbledore said, looking slightly surprised by the smile on Buffy's face.  "You're looking awfully cheery this morning."

She grinned at him and took a seat.  "I had a good weekend."

"Ah yes…you're budding relationship with Mr Malfoy.  It's nice to see that boy smile," Dumbledore commented, his eyes twinkling fondly.  He'd been surprised to learn that Buffy and Draco had begun a relationship, but he wasn't against it.  He had seen the difference in the Slytherin boy, and he wasn't about to try and take that away.  It had been too long since that boy had had any joy in his life.

Dumbledore opened the drawer to his desk and took out the syringe, watching Buffy's face carefully.  She hid her wince rather well, but Dumbledore had seen it.  He levelled out the syringe and moved to the other side of the desk, Buffy rolling up her sleeve and holding out her arm. 

Dumbledore knew that the drugs weren't working as well as they had in the previous weeks.  Buffy's body had been growing an immunity to them, and Dumbledore himself had purposefully diluted this weeks injection.  He wanted to know if Buffy would confess that her strength had not entirely been taken away from her.

The Headmaster of the School was not notoriously known for trusting people easily.  Over the years, he had learnt that even the most innocent looking people could very well prove to be evil, murderous traitors.  That was why, when he'd been told of the rogue Slayer, he hadn't been entirely forthcoming in the area of trust.  But, after having observed Buffy Summers for four weeks, he knew that there was something he was missing.  He was fairly certain that the girl was completely innocent, though he had yet to work out how to prove it.

He knew that the Slayer had neither confirmed nor denied the allegations, but he knew she was fairly itching to tell someone what had happened the night of the murder.  Dumbledore however, was waiting for the correct time to approach the girl about what had happened.  He could see how quickly she'd integrated herself into Hogwarts, opening up to people as much as she could, rather than shutting herself away from them.  She was a charming and charismatic girl who had become immensely popular within Slytherin and in the other houses as well.  She was possibly the only Slytherin that barely anyone had any complaints about.

All he knew was that the truth would have to come out soon, and when it did, things were going to get even more interesting. 

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Buffy sat through Defence Against the Dark Arts feeling incredibly paranoid.  Ethan had been smirking at her every few minutes, which wasn't overly unusual for him, but it had had a different edge to it than usual.  She was fairly certain that Ethan had finally decided on what his payback was going to be, and the Slayer knew without a doubt that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be fun.

She'd been waiting all lesson for him to ask her something humiliating, but as the class was dismissed, she breathed a sigh of relief.  As she went to walk out of the room, the black book bag she carried over her shoulder split open.  She looked at it in confusion.  She hadn't been carrying that much.

Draco and Blaise stopped to help her pick up her items, and Hermione lingered, having asked Ethan a question regarding something he'd brought up during the lesson. 

"Nice one Summers," Blaise teased as she helped retrieve Buffy's fallen items.

"It's a talent," Buffy replied, grinning.

Buffy stood up and moved to fetch a quill that had floated into a darkened corner.  She suddenly felt a familiar presence tickle at the back of her neck.  She stood and straightened, moving into an automatic defensive position that she hadn't assumed in weeks.  She gasped as a very familiar figure stepped out of the shadows and moved towards her.  She took a step back, bumping into Draco.

The three other students looked at what had spooked Buffy and gasped, the three of them moving backwards.  Draco tried to pull Buffy back with him, but she stood her ground.

In front of them was a vampire in full game-face, towering above them, an evil smirk on his face.  He looked directly at Buffy and smiled.

"Hello lover."

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(Was gonna cut the chapter there, but it was too short.  You're lucky I like long chapters…so…this is what we like to call a dramatic pause.  If this was being filmed, this would have been a commercial break.)

Buffy felt her world begin to break down around her.  This was not what she'd been expecting.  Was this Ethan's revenge?  Bringing Angel to Hogwarts and removing his soul, thereby returning Angelus.  Not even Ethan was foolish enough to do that.  He would never have dared bring a vampire into the school if he valued his job.

"You're not real," Buffy said, her voice shaking slightly.

Angelus just shrugged nonchalantly.  "You fear me.  That makes me real."

He took another step towards her, and she noticed that his hands were behind his back.  She couldn't help but wonder what was behind them. She still wasn't sure what was going on.  She didn't know enough about the magic realm to understand what was happening.

Angelus saw that Buffy's gaze was trying to see what was behind his back.  To make it easier on her, he moved his arms, revealing that he was holding two swords.  He threw one to Buffy, which the Slayer caught easily.  She studied it carefully and gasped in recognition.

"You remember that sword, don't you lover?" Angelus taunted.  He suddenly slid out of game face, and Buffy's heart wrenched at seeing the familiar face of Angel.  Except, it wasn't his soft chocolate eyes looking back at her.  It was the hardened browns of Angelus. "That's the sword you killed me with.  The sword you sent me to hell with.  Except…wait…that wasn't me you killed. You killed Angel, Buff.  Remember?"

A tear slid down Buffy's cheek, her mind racing to try and keep up with this strange turn of events.  Instinct took over, and Buffy lunged towards him in outrage, anger and fear overwhelming her and making her slightly crazy.  He parried her thrust and countered with his own attack.  Buffy didn't notice it, but their footsteps mimicked the fight that they'd had in front of Acathla the year before. 

She also didn't notice that she was slowly gaining the upper hand.  She did, however, notice that her strength was not at the weakened level she was so used to on a Monday.  She felt almost as she had felt on Friday.  Her strength was diminished, but not completely gone. 

Angelus suddenly delivered a painful punch to Buffy's face that sent the Slayer sprawling.  Draco went to race forward, but found himself frozen in his spot, unable to do anything but watch.  Unbeknownst to him, Ethan Rayne stood behind the watching trio, wanting to see Buffy get taken down a notch or two, without doing her any real damage.  He would end the spell on the teens, and destroy the boggart before the vampiric illusion could kill her.  But for now, he was content to watch her, a smug smile on his face.  He hadn't been expecting her greatest fear to be anything as deliciously entertaining as this.

Buffy shuffled backwards and felt her back hit the wall.  Angelus stood over her, his sword swinging mockingly in front of her, pointed at her face.  If the incredible sense of déjà vu wasn't enough, the words that spilled from Angelus' mouth made it even worse.  They echoed the words that her evil ex-lover had taunted her with long ago.

"So that's it then.  No weapons, no friends, no hope.  Take all that away and what's left?"

Angelus lunged forward, the sword aimed directly at Buffy's head.  The Slayer clapped her hands around the flattened edge of the blade, stopping it scant millimetres from her face.  She looked up at Angelus defiantly.

"Me."

She shoved the sword backwards, the hilt hitting Angelus' face, sending him stumbling backwards.  Buffy grabbed her own sword and quickly stood, swinging back and then thrusting the blade into Angelus' gut.  The vampire gasped, his eyes opening in shock.  Buffy watched in horror as an orange light glowed through them, and she knew without a doubt that it was Angel's soulful eyes that she was now looking at.

"Buffy," he whispered.  The way he said her name broke Buffy's heart.  She could still remember that fateful morning that she'd been forced to kill Angel, and having to relive it was the most painful thing she'd ever had to do.  She took a step back and covered her mouth with her hands, shocked at what had just happened. 

Draco, Blaise and Hermione barely heard the shocked whisper of "oh god" before the Slayer turned and fled from the room, wanting to be anywhere but the DADA classroom.

It was Blaise who came to her senses first and looked between Draco and Hermione.  "What the bloody hell was that?"

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You guys are awesome!  Thanks heaps for yoru reviews and stuff!  Always wonderful to hear from you guys!!

SNEAK PREVIEW:

"You're quite welcome my dear.  I do, however, have one thing that I would like to ask you," Dumbledore said.

"You didn't kill Allan Finch, did you?"

And it only takes him 22 chapters to ask.  *grins*

Toodles.