CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: ACCUSATIONS
Sunday, 14th March 1999
Giles finally turned away from his conversation with Dumbledore, still slightly perturbed that his Slayer, one of the bravest and most loyal teenagers he'd ever met, hadn't been placed in Gryffindor. He turned his attention fully to Buffy, pulling up a chair to sit beside her.
"So, how's Snyder?" Buffy asked with a grin, casting a glance to look at Snape, who completely missed it. "Has he been doing happy dances since I left?"
Giles chuckled a little at the imagery.
"Not quite. In fact I rather think he misses having someone to torment," Giles explained.
"Yeah Buff, he's been starting in on the Scoobies since you left," Willow chimed in.
"Who's Snyder?" Blaise and Draco asked.
Buffy looked at her Hogwarts friends and launched into an explanation.
"He's the principal of my old school in Sunnydale," she explained. She looked to Willow for confirmation of her next statement. "What was it that Cordelia called him? A tiny, impotent nazi with a bug up his butt the size of an emu?"
Willow smiled at the memory and nodded, while Blaise and Draco looked a little confused. They understood about half of the comment, but just smiled anyway.
"Well, I can happily state that in no way do I miss him," Buffy said firmly. She looked to Snape pointedly. "I've got new Professors who seem to like tormenting me."
Giles followed her gaze and glared at Professor Snape. He managed not to shift uncomfortably under the full Ripper-glare, and Buffy had to respect him for that. The Watcher turned his attention back to Buffy, a question on his lips.
"I have to admit to being slightly surprised," Giles began. "Every time that I've envisioned seeing you again, your first question has always been when you could come home."
Willow too looked at Buffy. She had been a little surprised that Buffy hadn't enquired about when she could leave Hogwarts.
Buffy paused, thinking over the question. It wasn't that she didn't want to go home, it was just that she didn't want to leave Hogwarts.
"Home…right. Away from Hogwarts. Cos…I don't really belong here."
Draco and Blaise looked at her sadly. She avoided looking at them, knowing that tears would begin flowing if she had to see their expressions. She breathed in deeply and decided to jump in with both feet.
"So…when can I go home?"
Giles sighed, wishing he had better news. "We're still working on it. I've been trying to get in contact with Jeremy Marshall, Faith's new Watcher, but they seem to be unreachable," he explained.
Buffy looked at him closely, trying to read between the lines of his last comment. "That seems kinda convenient. Did Faith pull that or does the Council really hate me that much?"
"The latter I'm afraid," Giles admitted. "And for what it's worth, I am sorry. About letting the Council take you away from Sunnydale."
Buffy shook her head and smiled at her Watcher. "It wasn't your fault Giles," she said softly. "It all happened pretty damn fast anyway. 'Sides, if it wasn't for you I probably woulda been stuck in the Council somewhere. At least Hogwarts turned out to be pretty decent."
Buffy heard someone clear their throat, and she turned to look up at the offender. She smirked at the Professor and held back a laugh, knowing that the following confrontation was bound to be entertaining.
"Well, some things were pretty decent," she corrected herself.
Ethan Rayne smirked and looked her over. He would never admit that he had been slightly worried when he'd seen the Slayer collapse after the battle.
"You alright Slayer?" Ethan asked.
"Right as rain."
Ethan smirked a little. "Funny."
"You remember Giles, right Ethan?" Buffy asked.
Ethan suddenly swung his head around to see Giles glaring at him, now standing with his fists clenched, obviously wanting to hit the DADA Professor.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here Ethan?" Giles demanded angrily.
Ethan forced himself to relax and puffed out his chest proudly. "I'm a Professor."
"Of what, chaos?"
"Defence Against the Dark Arts," Ethan replied calmly.
Giles swung his angry gaze to look at Dumbledore, incredulous that Ethan Rayne would really be allowed to teach. "You actually let this pillock teach young children a subject regarding the Dark Arts?"
"A lot has changed since you saw him last," Dumbledore replied calmly.
"The last time I saw him was eight months ago when he turned the whole town into randy teenagers," Giles ranted.
"And how is dear Joyce?" Ethan asked, smirking.
Both Buffy and Giles turned their glares on him. "Don't you dare talk about my mother," Buffy warned, her hands curling into fists. She didn't care that she was in a hospital bed, Ethan had insulted her mother and she wouldn't let him get away with that.
Ethan held up his hands in mock-surrender and looked back to Giles, a rare serious look on his face.
"I haven't been teaching any of the students our bad habits," Ethan explained. "I've done nothing to harm any of them."
Buffy cleared her throat pointedly and Ethan's brow furrowed.
"Except maybe her," he qualified.
"Oh, that's comforting," Giles said sarcastically. "What other damage did you do to my Slayer?"
"It's kind of a long story," Ethan said.
"Boggart, Angelus, sword fight," Buffy said succinctly.
Ethan looked at her and she shrugged unrepentantly.
"Apparently not that long," the DADA Professor sighed.
"We've called a truce," Buffy explained when she saw Giles begin to move closer to Ethan. As much as she would like to have seen a fight between Giles and Ethan, she knew that the Professors of Hogwarts probably wouldn't approve of it.
"A truce?" Giles repeated angrily, his eyes still on Ethan. "You come to our town, nearly get us all killed with your Halloween stunt, you…tattoo my Slayer, come back again and drug the entire town so a group of vampires could sacrifice four newborn children to a demon, you set a boggart of Angelus loose, and now you've called a truce?"
Draco looked at Buffy, unable to believe that their Professor had done so many things to the Watcher and Slayer over the years.
"And who says that muggles lead boring lives?" Buffy said dryly, grinning at Draco.
He couldn't help but smile a little, but now when he looked at Ethan, he looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"I will never trust you Ethan," Giles finished.
Dumbledore stepped forward, feeling the need to get between the two nemeses.
"I would trust Ethan with my life. And the lives of my students," Dumbledore said quietly.
"Well you better not expect me to trust Buffy to that berk, because it'll only happen when hell freezes over," Giles said angrily.
Professor Snape stepped forward, unable to just stand idly by whilst a fight was raging between two people he had once known long ago.
"Rupert, if Dumbledore trusts the man, then maybe you should too," Snape suggested calmly.
Buffy turned to look at the Potions Master, her eyebrows raised. She knew that Snape was a Professor and that her next comment could get her into a lot of trouble, but she knew it would be worth whatever the consequences.
"Sometimes trust needs to be earned, Professor," Buffy said, staring at Snape.
Snape looked at her, unable to believe that she had contradicted him. The words settled into his mind and he knew that his own argument from several days before had just been turned around on him.
"Touché," he said quietly.
Dumbledore looked to Giles, wondering how to calm the Watcher down.
"Rupert, you do not need to trust him with your Slayer. You do, hopefully however, trust me with her."
Giles nodded, knowing that there was hardly anyone on the earth who he would trust Buffy to, but that Dumbledore was one of the very few.
"I know of Professor Rayne's past and it is possible for a man to change. You yourself were able to recover after the incident with Eyghon," Dumbledore reminded him.
Draco looked up at the Headmaster, the name striking something within him.
"Eyghon," he repeated quietly. He looked to Buffy with wide eyes. "That's where I've seen that mark. Your tattoo is the Mark of Eyghon."
Buffy nodded and Giles turned to look at her with angry eyes.
"You said you were going to have that removed," he accused.
"I couldn't afford it," she admitted sheepishly.
Giles rolled his eyes and Buffy heard a strange clucking sound coming from the inside of Giles' mouth.
"Don't be mad," Buffy pleaded.
"I'm not," Giles replied steadily.
"Yes you are," Willow and Buffy said simultaneously.
"How can you tell?" Blaise asked curiously. She knew he was frustrated, but if the man in front of her was angry when he looked so calm, she'd hate to see him when he lost his control.
"He's making that weird 'cluck cluck' sound with his tongue," Willow explained.
Giles sighed and removed his glasses, polishing them on a handkerchief. Buffy smiled, unable to believe that she'd missed watching the familiar habit.
"You two always were too perceptive for your own good," Giles said to Willow and Buffy.
The two girls just grinned at each other, and Buffy felt a swell of affection for her Watcher and her best friend. She hadn't been expecting to see them, but it was definitely the best of surprises. But, now that she'd seen two of her friends, she had the strongest desire to see the others as well.
"I don't suppose the others could come and visit anytime soon?" Buffy asked.
"The Council has a permanent locator spell on you, so you wouldn't be able to leave Hogwarts. But I don't object to having another visitor or two," Dumbledore said.
Giles did a quick mental calculation. "It's probably closer to six of us altogether. Seven if you wish to see Angel again."
Draco shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Angel. He'd heard the rest of the tale about Angel's return and their attempt at a relationship, which hadn't worked too well. Whilst he knew that Buffy cared about him, he also knew that Buffy still loved Angel. Buffy squeezed his hand and smiled at him, trying to comfort him. She could tell that Angel wasn't his favourite of topics.
"Seven then."
Draco looked at her, unable to understand why she would wish to see the vampire again if there was nothing between them as her gentle hand movement had suggested.
"We need proper closure," Buffy explained.
Draco sighed, but nodded, knowing that Buffy could never truly be his until she'd let go of Angel face-to-face rather then through the letter from six weeks ago.
Giles looked between them, still unable to believe that he hadn't known that Buffy had started a new relationship with a fellow student at Hogwarts.
"You're really dating?"
"Yup," Buffy replied simply.
"And I didn't know this because of what reason?" Giles asked.
"I think Dumbledore's exact words were that 'the Council does not wish for me to contact anyone from Sunnydale'," she said in a fake and entirely too pompous British accent. She flashed a smile at the Headmaster to let him know that she was only teasing. His eyes twinkled and she knew that he hadn't been horribly offended.
"Yes, but I'd have thought that Albus would at least keep me informed of my Slayer's social life," Giles said, looking at the Headmaster, wondering why Dumbledore hadn't told him that Buffy had become involved with someone.
The Headmaster just smiled and Buffy couldn't help but grin. Giles hadn't been told because his reaction was far funnier in person than it would be in a letter. Buffy went to tell him this but was stopped once more by a half-mad, half-inquisitive Hermione Granger.
Buffy's smile faded and she knew that she was in for some serious questioning.
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Toodles.
K.