CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: EXPLANATIONS

Tuesday, 2nd March 1999

Buffy had successfully avoided Blaise, Draco and Hermione for the remainder of the previous day.  She'd missed Potions and had skipped lunch, preferring to stay cloistered in her room.  She was just grateful that her friends had respected her need for privacy.  It had given her time to think about how she was going to explain what they'd seen.

When Tuesday morning came, she knew she couldn't hide any longer.  She dressed quickly in her uniform and made her way down to breakfast.  She didn't even make it out of the Common Room before Blaise and Draco both stopped her from leaving.  She looked at them both and smiled a little, turning back to the main area of the Common Room and sitting down on the couch.  Blaise and Draco followed suit and looked at her expectantly.

"What do you wanna know?"

"Anything," Blaise replied, slightly bitter that the most interesting person to ever join Slytherin had kept so many secrets from them.

"Everything," Draco added.

Buffy sighed and looked at him sadly.  "You know I can't tell you all of it."

"Well, whatever you can tell us," he clarified.  He looked at her, his eyes soft and pleading.  "Please?"

It was the gentle plea that got to her and she sighed, kicking off her shoes, thankful that they had a good forty minutes to themselves in the Common Room while the rest of the school was at breakfast.

"Alright.  Well, you guys saw that it was a vampire, right?" Buffy asked.

Her two friends nodded.

"Well, I guess I should start my story at the beginning.  When I was sixteen, I moved to a new town.  I met a guy, and…well, basically we fell in love."

Draco looked at her, wondering whether or not she was over this man.  Obviously, something terrible had happened and she'd been forced to kill the demon that wore his face.

"I know it's kinda hard to believe, but…he was a vampire when we met.  But he had a soul," she explained.

"A soul?" Blaise asked curiously, not quite understanding what that meant.

Buffy nodded and launched into an explanation about demons, and souls and who someone is sired.  Five minutes later, when she had explained the gypsy curse, she felt that Draco and Blaise had a strong enough grasp on the concept.

"There was a loophole in the curse.  Basically, if his soul ever stopped being tormented, even for a moment, the soul would leave the body, and the demon would be in control again," she explained.  "He had that moment, and the demon came out to play."

Blaise and Draco looked at each other before turning back to Buffy.  Draco had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he knew what the next part of the story was going to be.  Buffy had explained about her previous relationship, and had told him that it was as serious as two people could get.  He'd never given it much more thought.  Until now.

"How exactly did he lose his soul?" Blaise asked.

"A moment of perfect happiness," Buffy replied, tears in her eyes. 

"Which was what?" Draco asked quietly.

Buffy sighed and knew that her boyfriend had a right to know about her previous relationship.  It was hard admitting that a beautiful experience had caused carnage and mayhem after it, but Draco had a right to know.

"He and I…we made love.  And he lost his soul," Buffy admitted.

Blaise felt tears well in her own eyes at Buffy's words.  She couldn't imagine the heart-wrenching pain and guilt that it would cause. 

"Then what happened?" Blaise asked.

"Then…five months later, it came down to whether or not I was strong enough to finally kill him.  I had the upper hand, and…a friend of mine used magic to restore his soul," she explained.  "It was a little too late though, and…there's a big chunk of the story missing here, but basically he needed to die in order for the world to continue existing."

"You really killed him," Blaise whispered, remembering the horrified expression of the vampiric boggart as Buffy had shoved a sword through his gut.  Blaise had never seen anything like the intricate sword fight between Buffy and the vampire boggart.  She was still wondering how exactly Buffy could sword-fight as well as she did. 

"I did," Buffy admitted.

Draco looked at his girlfriend and felt his heart go out to her.  He couldn't imagine having to kill anyone he loved.  It was too horrifying a notion.  He moved closer to Buffy and pulled her into his arms.  Buffy clung to him tightly, a few tears leaking from her eyes.  She couldn't believe that Draco was being so accepting of this.

He was definitely staying true to his word.  Nothing was changing between them, and nothing anyone said had made him think any differently of her.  Buffy had never been more grateful in her life.

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Short chapter, I know, but…needed to be done.

Why hadn't I updated?  Cos I'm running out of chapters.  Hehe…having problems finishing this fic.  Stioll working on it, honest. 

Ohhh, and just to be mean/nice…SNEAK PREVIEW:

"Who are you?"

"Buffy Summers.  And you?"

"Sirius Black."

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Toodles.