CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: APOLOGIES
Monday, 8th March 1999
It had been a week since Ethan's boggart stunt, and still the DADA Professor hadn't said anything to Buffy about it. She'd been expecting some sort of sneering comment, something about how weak she was that she hadn't been able to defeat a single vampire, but nothing had come. When he pulled her aside on the Monday after the DADA lesson, she'd been expecting the worst.
"What do you want Ethan?" Buffy asked, not particularly wanting to deal with him at that moment. It was the first week that she hadn't been injected with anything. Even though Dumbledore had said that she was to have another week's worth of half-injections, when she'd arrived at Dumbledore's office that morning, he'd told her that an innocent person had no need to be held back. She'd grinned at him and dashed down to breakfast.
She didn't want Ethan ruining what had started as a fairly good day.
"I want to apologise," he said quietly.
She stared at him in shock. She shook her head, as though trying to get her ears and brain to work in sync with each other. "I'm sorry, I could have sworn you just said you wanted to apologise to me."
He fidgeted nervously and nodded. "I did say that."
She narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously. "Okay, what's the joke?"
"No joke," he replied sincerely. "That boggart…well, I went too far."
She nodded, agreeing with him completely. She couldn't help but wonder where this complete turnabout had come from. She remembered that Dumbledore had been planning to 'have words with' Ethan, and she couldn't help but wonder what the Headmaster had told him.
"Yeah, you really did."
"And, I'm sorry," he apologised.
She looked at him, trying to gage if he was sincere of not. He looked to be genuinely regretful about what he'd done, so she nodded and stuck her hand out to him.
"Truce?"
He nodded and shook hands with her. "Truce."
"Good. Cos honestly, I'd run out of things to throw back at you," she said.
He couldn't help but laugh, reminded keenly of the mischief that had always run deep within Ripper when he'd been younger.
"You really do remind me of Ripper," he said thoughtfully.
"I guess it's hard to hang out with someone and have them not affect you," she explained.
He nodded and knew that it was true. This was his first year of teaching at Hogwarts, and he'd been thrilled by the offer of the position. It had come as a shock, and he'd asked Professor Dumbledore why he would ever offer the position to him of all people.
Dumbledore had explained that everyone deserves a second chance, and if Ethan wanted one, Hogwarts was willing to offer him a home in order to take that chance. He'd accepted after several days deliberation and hadn't looked back. The former chaos worshipper had renounced his allegiance to Janus, God of Chaos and had settled into his position as the newest Hogwarts Professor.
He enjoyed working with the children, but he still had a mischievous streak a mile wide that had been begging to be brought out. And when Buffy Summers had been brought to Hogwarts, for disciplinary measures, he'd jumped at the chance to make her life even more miserable. He'd never really thought about the fact that it would jeopardise his position as a Professor though.
"Well, you couldn't ask for a better person to be rubbing off on you," Ethan said. "Ripper's a good bloke."
Buffy smiled, and couldn't help but wonder just what type of a friendship Ethan and Giles had had in their younger days.
"That he is. But he's not Ripper anymore," she said. "He's Giles."
"Tweed-clad Watcher turned librarian?" Ethan asked smirking. "He's more than that, and you know it."
"I do. But he's not the same man that you knew."
"I know," Ethan replied sadly. He missed the days when he had no responsibilities, no worries about anything more than the magics and the drugs that they used. "He turned out alright."
Buffy smiled and looked at him with a strange softness in her eyes.
"It looks like you turned out alright too Ethan," Buffy pointed out. "Not many people are trusted by Dumbledore, and if he trusts you to teach at Hogwarts, then you must be doing something right."
He gave her a half-smile before she turned and walked away.
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The Monday potions lesson dragged on for a seemingly endless amount of time. Every single Gryffindor and Slytherin student agreed that it was possibly one of the most boring lessons that they'd ever had to attend. When they were finally dismissed, they'd never been happier. Of course, Buffy's luck only extended so far, and Professor Snape called out for her in a request for a few minutes of her time.
She sighed and waited until the classroom had been completely vacated. She knew that Blaise and Draco were waiting for her outside the classroom as always.
"Professor Dumbledore has informed me that you were proven innocent," Snape said.
Buffy tried to read into the tone of his voice, but she'd never been able to detect anything but sheer coldness from the Potions Master. She was fairly certain that the man in front of her had been severely neglected as a child and had turned out to be cranky because of his upbringing. She just nodded and waited for him to continue.
"It changes nothing Miss Summers. I still do not trust you. Trust has to be earned in my books, and you have done nothing to warrant that," he told her.
She wasn't certain why she wanted his trust so much, but the knowledge that he was so adamant about not trusting her hurt.
"Tell me how to earn it then," Buffy said calmly.
He looked at her in shock. He hadn't been expecting her to say anything back to him. She'd always seemed to be somewhat meek, a character trait that he'd thought unusual in a Vampire Slayer, but then again, he'd held her entire future in his hands.
"Pardon?"
"You don't trust me, you say I have to earn it. So…tell me how to earn it," she replied.
He looked at her blankly, unsure of what to say. He hadn't been expecting the question, and he definitely hadn't been prepared to give her an answer. He coughed, uncomfortable at being caught off-guard.
"I'll get back to you."
She fought the urge to roll her eyes and instead she just nodded politely and gathered her books, leaving the classroom to catch up with her two friends. Draco greeted her with a kiss and a look of concern.
"Everything alright?"
"Peachy," she replied.
He looked at her closely and Buffy caved. She sighed and melted into his embrace. "He still doesn't trust me."
"What? But Dumbledore knows you didn't kill anyone," Draco protested.
Buffy sighed. She'd sat down and explained everything (excluding the Slayer portion of the tale) to Blaise and Draco, who had taken everything rather well. What they didn't understand was why she'd been sent to a magical school when she was clearly a muggle, and also why she'd been sorted into Slytherin when she wasn't a pureblood. She couldn't answer either of those questions, and that whilst the two Slytherins were annoyed at the lack of answers, they respected that Buffy couldn't tell them everything about her.
In many ways, it made them like her more. Mysterious people always were far more interesting.
They began making their way to the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts, walking slowly as they continued their conversation.
"Yeah I know. But Snape doesn't seem to be able to grasp the concept of innocent after being proven innocent," Buffy said. She couldn't believe that she was so upset about it, even though she didn't particularly like Snape. She just hated the fact that he had no real reason for distrusting her so vehemently. "Anyway, I asked him how I could earn his trust. He didn't have an answer for me."
Draco and Blaise rolled their eyes simultaneously. "That'd be right," Blaise said, almost able to feel Buffy's frustration at the situation. "He's even more self-righteous then Malfoy used to be."
"Hey!"
Buffy chuckled and kissed her boyfriends cheek comfortingly.
"I gotta jet you guys. I've got a study session with Hermione in the library, so I'll see you guys back in the Common Room," she said.
Blaise nodded and waved goodbye, leaving Buffy and Draco alone in the Entrance Hall. Draco sighed and wrapped his arms around Buffy's waist, kissing her forehead softly.
"So if Dumbledore knows you're innocent, why's he still making you study with that Gryffindor girl?" Draco asked.
Buffy glared at him and pulled back.
"Studying with Hermione isn't a punishment," she said scowling. "She's a friend. And if you gave her half a chance, you'd probably end up liking her."
Draco scoffed but didn't push, knowing that Buffy was fairly sensitive when it came to her friendships with people from other houses. He tilted his head lower and kissed her deeply, hoping to get her mind away from the beginnings of a fight. Buffy knew what he was doing, but she didn't feel like fighting with him in any case.
She smiled and sighed into the kiss, happy to lose herself in the feeling that Draco evoked in her. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen when the Council was finally convinced of her innocence. As much as she wanted to go home, she was almost perfectly content to stay at Hogwarts and explore her budding romance with Draco. She sighed again and almost hoped that the Council would take their time being convinced.
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